Gwangju to Launch Resident-Led 'Human Rights Village' Initiative

Public Contest Aims for Villages Free from Discrimination and Violence
Project Briefing to Be Held on January 23 at the 5·18 Democratization Movement Education Center

A public contest has been launched to create discrimination-free neighborhoods through resident-led human rights initiatives.

On January 13, Gwangju Metropolitan City announced the launch of the "2026 Human Rights Village Initiative," a public contest designed to support local communities in identifying and resolving everyday human rights issues on their own. This project has been part of Gwangju’s community-based human rights program since 2013.

Gwangju Metropolitan City Hall. Photo by Song Bohyun

This year, Gwangju plans to allocate a total of 126 million won to select approximately 15 neighborhoods. The program will be operated in three stages based on the participating communities’ experience and capabilities: Initiation (1-2 years), Settlement (3-4 years), and Expansion (5 years or more). Tasks and support will be tailored for each stage to strengthen practical capacity.

Participating communities will choose either "A Human Rights Village Without Exclusion and Discrimination" or "A Human Rights Village Opposing Violence" as their project goal. Selected organizations will conduct a survey on inequality, discrimination, or violence within the community, select and act on human rights agendas, and participate in a monthly human rights village network as part of the core activities.

Gwangju will hold a project briefing session on January 23 at the 5·18 Democratization Movement Education Center in Chipyeong-dong, Seo-gu, to explain the project direction, stage-specific support details, and how to prepare the project proposal. Organizations that do not attend the briefing session will be excluded from the contest.

The project will run from June to December. Applications for project proposals will be accepted from February 9 to 13, and further details can be found in the notices and announcements section of the Gwangju City website.

Jeong Sinok, Director of the Human Rights and Peace Division, stated, "This is a process in which residents address everyday issues through the language of human rights and solve them with the power of the community," adding, "We will support the spread of human rights practices at the neighborhood level throughout the region."