▲ Policy Human Rights Assessment Team Workshop
Chungcheongnam-do held the '2024 Policy Human Rights Impact Assessment Team Workshop and 1st Meeting' on the 6th at the multipurpose conference room of the Chungnam Naepo Innovation Platform.
With the participation of about 20 people, including provincial human rights commissioners, provincial government officials, human rights monitors, human rights organizations, and experts, the event proceeded with explanations on the provincial policy human rights impact assessment, education, and policy-specific meetings.
At the workshop, Kim Chang-il, the Human Rights Protector of the Provincial Human Rights Center, guided the participants through the policy human rights impact assessment process and its main results, and shared the operation plan for the assessment team.
Furthermore, Professor Shin In-cheol from the University of Seoul provided education for understanding policy human rights impact assessments. He explained concepts, assessment methods, current operational status, improvement directions, and suggested the direction for creating policy assessment frameworks.
Following this, the 1st meeting featured explanations from each policy department regarding their current progress. The attendees also exchanged opinions on the operation of the assessment team, meeting schedules, and future activities of the team.
The human rights issues selected for assessment this year include the phased and systematic operation of human rights impact assessments, and strengthening support for counseling activities for foreign workers.
At this first meeting, there was a strong focus on strengthening accountability for the impact on residents' human rights when formulating or implementing policies from a human rights perspective, in relation to the phased and systematic operation of human rights impact assessments.
The assessment team plans to examine whether there are any human rights violations in the process of promoting provincial policies and projects. They will also assess whether human rights impact assessments in autonomous regulations and policy areas are functioning as intended, serving as a preemptive check against human rights violations and contributing to the stable promotion of human rights. Additionally, they will explore whether there are any institutional improvements needed to enhance the results of policy impact assessments.
In the area of strengthening support for counseling activities for foreign workers, the team will analyze the current status of counseling and education for foreign workers beyond the previous five regions (Cheonan, Asan, Dangjin, Seocheon, Hongseong) regarding the labor difficulties they face, employment counseling, and adaptation education to Korean life. They will also explore ways to improve and establish practical remedies for foreign workers' rights by strengthening counseling for them.
In the future, the assessment team plans to submit the evaluation results and improvement measures to the Provincial Human Rights Commission after conducting policy-specific meetings and on-site inspections. The Provincial Human Rights Commission will then recommend improvements to the relevant departments.
Yoon Dam, the director of the Provincial Human Rights Center, said, "We will comprehensively evaluate the entire policy process to see if the rights of residents are being violated so that their human rights can continue to be respected without discrimination."
Meanwhile, the policy human rights impact assessment aims to prevent negative human rights impacts on residents' lives caused by local government administration, which is closely related to their daily lives. It does this through preemptive checks.
Autonomous regulations and policies are evaluated and analyzed based on human rights indicators to assess their impact on residents' human rights. This process helps prevent human rights violations in advance and promotes human rights by improving negative factors and encouraging positive factors.
Since 2019, the province has mandated human rights impact assessments whenever ordinances and regulations are enacted or revised. As of last year, 490 autonomous regulations have been evaluated, and the province is implementing timely policies to promote the human rights of its residents.
Department in Charge Human Rights Center, Autonomous Administration Division
Phone Number 041-635-2339
