KFBA’s “2003 Human Rights Report”

New evaluation was reported showing that the achievement on the human rights left much to be desired regardless of the expectation of the extension caused by President Roh’s career as a human rights lawyer.

The Korean Federal Bar Association(KFBA) evaluated the human rights situation for the first year of the Roh administration on the newly issued “2003 Human Rights Report” and revealed on May 5, “We achieved progress in sexual equality such as driving forward to abolish the householder system. However, the policies turned to give the first consideration to employers and cities without accepting the workers and farmers’ voice.”

KFBA also reported that the nation’s right to live is seriously threatened by large accidents such as the conflagration in the Daegu subway that killed 192 people last year and the suicide of those who have credit card defaults and who have difficulty in life in general.

KFBA defined these accidents as ‘the murder by society’ and pointed out, “The reason for their deaths is connected to our structural and political problems. To solve the problems, we need to fix the law, system, and policy with the national and social efforts.” Also, the “new unprivileged class” has increased as the neoliberalism policy produced a more substantial privileged class. It means the gap between wealth and poverty widened.

KFBA selected two faulty policies: the construction of nuclear waste processing plant in Buan and the introduction of National Education Information System. It pointed out, “Two policies have made people doubt about the policies, capability, and stability of the administration.”

KFBA, addressing the reason why the human rights extension was beyond expectations, stated, “There were huge obstacles against the stability of the administration, the difficulties in diplomacy and security, and the instability of economy. Therefore the government couldn’t cope with human rights problem in earnest.”

Tae-Hoon Lee jefflee@donga.com