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Recommendation on Legislation of the Special Act on Remedial Procedures in Compliance with the Individual Communications of the UN Human Rights Treaties and Recommendation on Articles 21 and 22 of the UN Convention against Torture [2003] KRNHRC 54 (15 December 2003)

On December 15, 2003, the Commission recommended the Prime Minister,
Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and Minister of Justice that the decisions
of UN human rights treaty bodies from individual communications procedure
be announced in the Official Gazette; that a special law to implement such
decisions be legislated; and that an explicit acceptance statement on the State
reporting procedure under Article 21 of the Convention Against Torture and
individual communications procedure under Article 22 of the same treaty.

Although international human rights covenants to which the Republic of
Korea has acceded and promulgated have the same effect as the domestic laws
of the Republic of Korea, when rights guaranteed by international human rights
covenants are violated, there is no way to practically remedy such violations in
Korea. When the UN Human Rights Committee determines that the
government of Republic of Korea has violated human rights, there is no way
to compel required compensation in Korea. Thus, a special law should be
legislated so that victims can be compensated by the government based on the
law. This is the way for Korea to faithfully fulfill its duties as a State Party to
the Covenant.

As the Korean government has not made an explicit acceptance declaration
on what is prescribed in Articles 21 and 22 of the Convention against Torture,
the State reporting procedure (Article 21) and the individual communications
procedure (Article 22) do not have effect in Korea. The government should
declare acceptance of these two articles so that citizens of Korea can employ the
remedies for rights guaranteed by the Convention.

In order to systematize the individual communications for remedy of rights
of individuals, the decisions on the individual communications by the UN
human rights treaty bodies should be implemented in Korea. The Korean
government should take appropriate measures to properly compensate those
victims of human rights violations who have not yet received proper remedial
treatment because there has been no legal ground. At the same time, the
government should let the people know about the availability of valid remedial
means for rights infringements by announcing the decisions on individual
communications by the UN human rights treaty bodies in the Official Gazette,
and declare that the government will implement such decisions.