South Korea: NHRCK staff cut by 21 per cent, bureaus reduced
Budget cuts to the NHRCK have resulted in the organisation's staff being cut from 208 to 164; the APF has sent a letter to the Korean Government outlining its concerns.
Amendments to the Presidential Decree, proposed by the Ministry of Public Administration and Security (MOPAS) to reorganise the structure of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) entered into effect on 6 April 6 2009, following the endorsement by the Cabinet Council on 31 March.
With this decision being legally effective, the NHRCK cut its staff from 208 to 164 and downsized its bureaus from five to three - a reduction of 21.2 per cent.
One of the major changes by this restructuring was to merge substantive bureaus, through which the Human Rights Policy Bureau was joined with the Education Bureau and the Rights Violation Investigation Bureau was merged with the Anti-Discrimination Bureau.
This decision was made by the Korean government despite the concerns expressed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the chairpersons of the ICC and the APF through their correspondence to the Korean government and the opposition by the civil society, human rights organisations, the media, academia, religious groups and the legal sector.
The NHRCK has since expressed its opinion that the independence of the NHRCK will be severely damaged by the amendments to the Presidential Decree and its working efficiency will be lowered.
In this regard, the NHRCK requested the Constitutional Court to adjudicate on jurisdictional disputes between the MOPAS and the NHRCK and applied for the provisional disposition on March 30, in order to suspend the effect of the amendments to the Presidential Decree.
Apart from this legal approach through the Constitutional Court, the NHRCK is reviewing other institutional ways to guarantee its actual independence from state authorities.
While waiting for the Constitutional Court’s decision, the NHRCK is reviewing and modifying this year's action plan after the organisation and staff reduction.
