Priorities of Human Rights Movements of Korean Society Facing New Millennium

Cheju Conference 2000 was held February 25-28 in Cheju with 100 human rights activists and researchers participating, to address human rights matters. At the end of the Conference, participants agreed that human rights movements, researches and everyday life must be based on the following principles:

1. Conventional principles of national security and development should be replaced by new principles based on human rights, peace and justice.

2. Under-represented people should be encouraged and strengthened to claim and address their matters. This should be the first-step of human rights movements. At the same time, the culture to respect human dignity and diversity should be created in order to eliminate impartiality, suppression and neglect of these under-represented people.

3. Solidarity, locally and internationally, should be strengthened with interconnections of all fields to act together against the violation of human rights.

Discussions of the Conference 2000

This round of conference has examined human rights issues of the Korean society including U.S. military massacre of Korean civilians during the Korean War; Korean military slaughter of Vietnamese civilians during the Vietnam War; National Security Law and patriarchal Family Law which is a structural human rights matter in our society. Especially, it is everyday human rights that has been constantly discussed during the Conference.

In 1999, the Conference titled Human Rights in Korea and its Prospects- held by Korea Committee for Commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Human Rights Declaration - focused mainly on human rights violations committed by state institutions. This year, the Conference has extended its concerns to include socio-cultural institutional issues: family, cyber-space, social institution, under-represented people, people with disabilities and foreign migrant workers.

Participants have reached a consensus that difference and distinction should be recognized to establish impartial social relationships on a daily basis. They also agreed on the urgent requirements of our society: interconnections of all fields of social movements, reform of national institutions and social order, the culture to respect human rights on a daily basis.

Sectional Discussions

State Power and Spiritual Freedom

The National Security Law is the very product of state supremacy that makes easy the suppression of peoples spiritual freedom, and reproduces statism. The National Security Law issue has been so far limited to focus mainly on the legal aspect of the Law. Efforts must be made to see the Law as a structural matter that reproduces and perpetuates statism. At the same time, the movement against the National Security Law is narrow given the range of questions the movement raises. The movement against the Law needs to be more systematic and popular through solidarity with other social movements in Korea.

Peace Movement and Human Rights

Human rights have been sacrificed in favor of the military-oriented principle: Security. Peace movement should strive to set up an alternative principle, targeting improved life, justice, and human rights. To this end, peace education and training of people¡¯s sensitivity to others are required so that general public could recognize differences of others, and learn how to live together.

As for U.S.military crimes, the existing macro - structural approach (which concerns ethnicity) requires to be complemented with a new approach, which concerns human rights of affected people. Participants have recognized that the concepts of peace and human rights should be extended to create solidarity among peace and human rights movements.

Human Rights of Civilian During War

This section has examined the slaughter of civilians during the Korean War and the Vietnam War. In the discussion, the affected civilians, in Munkyong and in Hampyong region, joined to explain situations at that time during the Korean War. The affected civilians also reported the development of their drives to shed lights on the incidents they witnessed and experienced. Discussants agreed that both U.S. military slaughter of Korean civilians and Korean military slaughter of Vietnamese civilians should be seen as human rights violations. They have asserted that as the first step to address it, a formal and full investigation into these incidents should be immediately made. By doing so, human rights of those affected people should be restored and secured, and with the measure a safety-net could be made to avoid any possible similar state atrocities in the future.

Patriarchal System in the Family Law and Human Rights

The Korean family headship institution originates from the Japanese Iae(Ê«) institution based on Japanese emperor fascism. It had been perpetuated by the state power since modern industrialization. Family headship institution, participants agreed, should be eliminated as it is sexist in its nature. The institution controls people along with family registration institution. Moreover, it does not reflect the diversities of current families regarding their compositions and forms. To abolish the family headship institution, filing a lawsuit can be considered as a measure. Filing an individual communication with the UN Human Rights Committee can be also considered on the occasion that the Constitutional Court legalizes the family headship institution. Alternatives to the family headship system are now under discussion.

Sexual Violation Inside School

Sexual violation is not just a rape matter. It is a more complicated matter that involves diverse relationships. Participants recognized the fact that sex violators do not see sex violation as a crime or a human rights violation. Participants asserted that the power relation of assaulters and victims should be seen in a new way, ethically and legally, and that the legal punishment standard should be set victim-orientedly. Consensus has been made on the urgent requirement to build a variety of institutions, legally and educationally, including counseling programs, settlement programs (to prevent and resolve sex violation), and sex violation settlement training programs (for those people who work for the settlement of the matter). Meanwhile, the Korean society should change its culture that minimizes and conceals sex violation for the prestige and interest of organizations involved.

Womens Rights in Family Formation

All human beings have the right to construct or not to construct family, or to dissolve family, as well as the right to select his or her own spouse following his or her sexual orientation. Diversity of families in its form and composition should be recognized and respected. In the process, new terms need to be coined to better represent such family as single parent family, unmarried parent family, same-gender parents family, etc. Especially, the Korean society has witnessed that only unmarried mothers, not unmarried fathers, have to take all responsibilities for the family, without any legal measures(to be saved or for support) and, worse, with even cultural bias toward them. Single parent family has also been excluded, emotionally, economically, and educationally. Single parent family must be given the access to diverse information and the economic assistance for its self-reliance, and the familys self-respect should be enhanced. Changes in family formation caused by womens raised status should be acknowledged without biases.

Information Society and Human Rights

No wonder the advance of technologies imposes new tasks on the human rights movement. Human rights allow no exception even when it comes to Cyber-space, Electronic information field. Human rights in Cyber space also should be ensured; the right to know, the right to disseminate information(or not to disseminate), the right to access, etc. Cyber rights movements should be based on bilateral way, and cyber rights matters must be approached and addressed with interconnected solidarity of all fields, locally and internationally. And the discussion must extend its concerns to include the information isolation and the on-line sexual violation concerning cyber space and human rights.

Legislation Drive for National Human Rights Commission

Human rights groups efforts to set up a national human rights body has been thwarted by the government and the Ministry of Justice that want to ensure their stakes in the national human rights commission. However, participants have agreed that efforts should be made continuously to create an independent and influential human rights commission. Meanwhile, it is an encouraging accomplishment that, for the body set-up, the 1st generation human rights groups with political rights orientation cooperates with the 2nd generation groups with diverse concerns including women, peoples with disabilities, foreign migrant workers, and homosexual people. Also, there has been a consensus that a joint- committee for the establishment of human rights commission must take the lead to raise awareness of the issue around the Commission, and to develop the discussion on the concept of human rights and its prospect.

Accountability to Peoples in Need

Participants recognized the importance of the National Basic Livelihood Security Law as well as its legal characters and matters. Thanks to the Law, the social welfare has become a right of people, though, poor people and peoples awareness of their rights to social welfare remain low. In the context, the constitutional right to live humane should be clarified and developed in its concepts, contents, and in its coverage. At the same time, discussions must be made on matters and prospect of social rights in the Korean society, and efforts should be made to clarify the concept of the National Basic Livelihood Security Law, and to complement its procedual weaknesses.

Human Rights of Internees of social Welfare Institution

For institution internees, the right to freedom or social right looks like a dream. Lots of questions have been raised around matters and violations inside institutions in Korea. Ebada Welfare Institution has already demonstrated that the situation is worst in the institution through the 1200-day-long protests. Entrepreneurs of social welfare organization Ltd., like other private foundations, are local communitys influential persons, who are connected with political influential persons and administrative officers, hence, the difficulty in addressing matters involved. To resolve institution related matters, large institutions must be transformed into meddle-size local community institutions. At the same time, it must also be ensured that forced entrance into a social welfare institution is possible only with the warrant issued by a judge under relevant laws.

Human Rights of Minorities

- Gay and lesbian¡¯s human rights

Gays and lesbians have been discriminated in Korea since the industrial revolution from which capitalism started to bloom. And gays and lesbians matters(Juvenile suicide, mental instability, hate-crime, and everyday human rights violation)are resulted from the public education that is critical to homosexuality. Gays and lesbians are also discriminated in legal matters. Gay and lesbian movements, culturally and morally, may look like escaping repressions. However, the real oppressing structure is increasingly complicated, and gay and lesbian¡¯s human rights matter is becoming a political one.

- HIV/AIDS positive peoples human rights

The relation of HIV/AIDS with human rights is: the more violated human rights are, the more vulnerable they are to HIV/AIDS, causing a fatal detriment to people with HIV/AIDS who are not allowed the access to ways to overcome HIV/AIDS. HIV/AIDS is a matter that is complicated with poverty, inequality, underdevelopment, armed conflicts, especially affecting marginalized people: women, children, poor, minorities, indigenous people, immigrants, gays and lesbians, prostitutes, people with disabilities, drug-users.

- Prostitutes human rights

The conventional discussion to address prostitution has placed its focus on the punishment and the brand of prostitute dealers. This matter should be approached from the consumer(men) perspective rather than the producer(women) perspective, as the demand provokes the supply. The pretext that men¡¯s sexual impulse can not be controlled can never justify prostitution. At the same time, prostitution matter can never be completely addressed by a licensed prostitution or the legalization of prostitution. The matter also lies in the existing male-oriented concept that regards prostitution as a necessary evil or as a free choice of a woman, which are problematic. It is required to refresh thoughts regarding prostitution.

Confucianism and human rights

Confucianism and human right issue has also attracted conference participants in general, reflecting the fact that the confucian traditions still are regarded as a barrier to human rights activists. Participants have asserted that Asian values and Confucian traditions can not justify the violation of human rights. Participants expressed different opinions concerning whether Confucianism, in its nature, is against the concept of human rights(or if Confucianism can co-exist with (or even extend) the concept of human rights). As for women¡¯s human rights, some discussants asserted that Confucianism is an obstacle to the realization of women¡¯s human rights. Meanwhile, others asserted that the contemporary women¡¯s rights matter can not be seen in relation with Confucianism. A consensus has been made that more discussions must be made and developed continuously in the future, based on further studies concerning the relationship of Confucianism with human rights.