Geumcheon-gu Human Rights Policy Monitored and Created Directly by Residents

Geumcheon-gu 'Human Rights Monitoring Team' Operates to Discover Resident-Centered Human Rights Policies... Residents Lead Direct Participation to Identify and Improve Highly Impactful Daily Human Rights Policies... Reporting Public Sector Human Rights Violations and Discrimination, Proposing System Improvements

Geumcheon-gu (Mayor Yu Seong-hoon) announced that it has formed the city’s first-ever “Resident Human Rights Monitoring Group” among Seoul’s autonomous districts to monitor human rights conditions within the local community and to discover human rights policies that residents can directly experience.

This initiative is being promoted to create policies that protect and promote human rights through the participation of various residents, especially those from vulnerable groups.

Last month, the district selected 18 monitoring members from diverse resident groups and local workers through public and recommended recruitment, and held an appointment ceremony on June 15.

The appointment ceremony proceeded in the order of “presentation of appointment letters,” a special human rights lecture by Dr. Lee Myung-hee from the Human Rights Policy Research Institute on the meaning of human rights policies and the role of the monitoring group, followed by a “general meeting” to plan detailed activity topics and schedules for the monitoring group.

The “Resident Human Rights Monitoring Group” will play a role in reporting human rights violations and discriminatory acts occurring in the public sector, as well as proposing institutional improvements for human rights-friendly policies.

The monitoring group will conduct ongoing monitoring activities by topic and individual from June to October and hold regular group meetings.

In topic-based monitoring, they will collaborate with related organizations or groups to address the status of residents’ universal mobility and access rights at public buildings, parks, walkways, and bus stops. In individual monitoring, members will report cases of human rights violations and discriminatory acts in the public sector and propose policies and improvements related to human rights in Geumcheon-gu. Regular meetings will provide opportunities to strengthen monitoring capabilities through expert consultations, education, and case analysis among members.

In November, a results report meeting will be held to share the monitoring activities and the outcomes of human rights policy discovery and improvements. Additionally, a “Human Rights Talk Concert” will be organized to freely discuss the future directions and tasks of the monitoring group.

The district plans to use the monitoring group’s activity data as foundational material for the “5-Year Basic Human Rights Policy Plan for Geumcheon-gu” to be established next year. The results and achievements of the monitoring group’s activities will also be compiled into a guide handbook for distribution, and a “Human Rights” menu will be newly created and posted on the district office website.

A resident selected for the monitoring group explained the role of the human rights monitoring group, saying, “It is necessary to improve the installation and operation guidelines of kiosks with universal design so that various unmanned terminals installed in public institutions, including community service centers, can be used comfortably by the elderly and people with disabilities.”

Yu Seong-hoon, Mayor of Geumcheon-gu, said, “To discover human rights policies that residents can feel in their daily lives, we have formed the first resident-participation human rights organization, the ‘Human Rights Monitoring Group,’ among Seoul’s autonomous districts. We will do our best to expand and improve human rights policies based on the opinions from the monitoring group to create ‘Geumcheon, a city where human rights are valued.’”

Prior to this year’s National Assembly elections, the district attracted attention by monitoring early voting stations and community service centers together with disability organizations and producing and distributing a “Barrier-Free Early Voting Station Information Guide.”