LGBT, Sewol issues omitted from Korea’s U.N. human rights report

South Korea’s government report to be submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council has excluded issues affecting sexual minorities and Sewol ferry victims, local NGOs and activists claimed Sunday.

Human rights experts say the government omitted some of the most crucial issues to avoid international criticism.

The UNHRC asks its member countries’ governments and NGOs to each submit a report about their human rights situation.

Once submitted, the UNHRC reviews the documents and releases its own report on the situation in each and every country, urging the governments to implement the necessary recommendations to improve human rights conditions.

The report, written and to be submitted by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea ― an independent government body ― contained 65 issues when the agency revealed its first draft at a standing committee meeting last month.

However, the final draft, which currently awaits approval by the agency’s commissioners, now only contains 31 issues.

The 34 issues that have been excluded include those affecting sexual minorities, such as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people; undocumented immigrants; Sewol victims’ families; the government’s control of the press; and the recent, controversial decision by the Constitutional Court to disband the minor opposition United Progressive Party.

The commission reportedly decided not to include such concerns in the report as the text was “becoming too long.”

However, NGOs and activists argue that the concerns that have been excluded are some of the most important.

For example, Amnesty International said South Korea’s Constitutional Court’s decision to dissolve the now-defunct Unified Progressive Party, citing its members’ pro-North Korea activities, raised “serious questions as the authorities’ commitment to freedom of expression and association.”

Also in December, the Seoul Metropolitan Government canceled its enactment of a human rights charter after fierce protests from gay rights opponents.

Myung Sook, a representative of a human rights NGO, said the organization planned to send a letter to both the International Coordination Committee of National Human Rights Institutions and the UNHRC regarding the issues excluded from the government body’s report.

By Claire Lee (dyc@heraldcorp.com)