Nationwide Human Rights Fee of Korea Chairperson Ahn Chang-ho attends a gathering on the fee’s headquarters in central Seoul, Feb. 10. Yonhap
NHRCK underneath controversy for unilaterally siding with president
By Anna J. Park
The top of Korea’s human rights fee has sparked controversy by criticizing the nation’s Constitutional Court docket in a letter despatched to the United Nations, which rehashed the identical arguments that President Yoon Suk Yeol has utilized in his impeachment trial to justify his Dec. 3 martial legislation declaration.
Within the letter, Ahn Chang-ho, chairperson of the Nationwide Human Rights Fee of Korea (NHRCK), referred to as into query the Constitutional Court docket’s skill to difficulty a ruling on Yoon. The Nationwide Meeting voted to take away the president from workplace late final 12 months, and the courtroom is now deliberating on his potential dismissal.
Ahn despatched the letter to the Workplace of the United Nations Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), which oversees procedural issues for the International Alliance of Nationwide Human Rights Establishments (GANHRI) Sub-Committee on Accreditation (SCA). It got here in response to a request despatched final December by 204 native civic teams to SCA asking for a particular evaluation of the NHRCK, citing the fee’s assist for the martial legislation declaration.
Within the letter, Ahn argued that the courtroom doesn’t absolutely adhere to prison process legislation, limiting the time for witness testimony and cross-examination, which he claimed undermines the equity of trials. Moreover, Ahn raised issues in regards to the controversial previous actions and affiliations of sure courtroom justices. This argument aligns with claims made by Yoon’s authorized group in the course of the trial.
A former Constitutional Court docket justice himself, he additionally referenced a public opinion ballot claiming that almost 50 % of Koreans don’t belief the Constitutional Court docket, arguing that this highlighted the necessity to restore belief and guarantee equity in its processes.
He included a decision the NHRCK handed final month in assist of “guaranteeing President Yoon Seok Yeol’s proper to protection,” together with the official determination doc. Nevertheless, dissenting opinions from the unique doc weren’t included within the letter.
When questioned by reporters at NHRCK headquarters in central Seoul on Tuesday about whether or not his transfer had undermined the fee’s credibility, Ahn dismissed the criticism and asserted that his actions have been “for the sake of human rights within the Republic of Korea.”
When requested if he would apologize ought to the letter result in a decrease standing for Korea’s human rights fee on the worldwide stage, Ahn responded, “How is that this a lack of credibility? I acted primarily based on the reality and spoke out for the human rights of the folks.”
In response to issues that the NHRCK’s stance aligned with Yoon’s authorized protection group, Ahn mentioned, “If the president calls a pink apple pink, are we alleged to say it’s blue as a substitute?”
Nevertheless, he acknowledged that he didn’t absolutely agree with all facets of the arguments by the president’s authorized group. He additionally claimed that the letter contained no intent to criticize the Constitutional Court docket, nor did it embody any content material that could possibly be seen as such.
GANHRI, an alliance of 118 worldwide human rights organizations, evaluates the accreditation standing of nationwide human rights establishments usually each 5 years. Whereas the subsequent common evaluation for the NHRCK is scheduled for 2026, GANHRI’s common meeting, set to convene subsequent month in Geneva, will resolve whether or not to conduct a particular evaluation of Korea’s human rights fee in response to the request from the civic organizations.
