Ministry of National Defense Republic of Korea

Ministry appoints eighth defense human rights monitoring group

With 40 soldiers and 15 civilians as members, the group will perform its mission for ten months

The ‘eighth defense human rights monitoring group’ has gone into action to spread the bond of sympathy among soldiers to work for the establishment of a barracks culture that respects human rights, and enhance the quality of human rights in the military.

In the afternoon of June 22, the ministry held an appointment ceremony for the eighth defense human rights monitoring group under the supervision of Park Kyeong-soo, Director General for Legal Affairs Management.

It has been eight years since the first defense human rights monitoring group was launched in 2014 for the collection of on-site opinions on the human rights of soldiers and the improvement of the relevant policy.

Started as a ‘human rights monitoring group’ consisting of soldiers only, it has been expanded to the defense human rights monitoring group that allows the participation of the public since 2015.

After an open contest held in April this year, 40 soldiers and 15 civilians were added to the shortlist for the 8th monitoring group. The monitoring group will work online to share suggestions and opinions on improving the human rights of soldiers for ten months by next March. The most excellent suggestions will be adopted and reflected in defense policies. To strengthen the capabilities of the monitoring group, the ministry has a plan to provide data related to the military human rights policy and education for the improvement of sensitivity to human rights.

The ministry also has a plan to allow the civilian monitoring group to visit the unit and communicate soldiers so that they can experience the human rights level and the efforts to improve human rights in the military.

“The human rights of every soldier should be respected until they are discharged from service. Based on what I experienced in my own barracks life, I will actively make suggestions to correct injustices or acts against humanity in the unit,” commented Armed Force Goyang Hospital Corporal Jeon Hyeon-ki, one of the members of the soldier monitoring group, expressing his willingness. Park So-yun, a college student, one of the members of the civilian monitoring group, commented, “I have become more interested in military human rights since my younger brother joined the army. Hoping to improve the human rights of soldiers, I decided to apply to the monitoring group. Through the experiences of the diverse monitoring groups, I will work to create a human rights sensitive barracks culture.”

Director General Park called for active work in this area, saying “the ministry will strive to improve the human rights policy related to barracks life by managing the human rights monitoring group in a substantial way.”

By Chae-Mu, Im <lims86@dema.mil.kr >

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