» Media activists, including the members of the National Network for the Media Movement, release a declaration on the preservation of Article 21 of the Constitution, which guarantees the freedom of the press, assembly and association at MediACT, a non-profit organization that provides services for independent filmmakers and the general public, in Gwanghwamun on December 9.

The current administration is exercising a politics of fear by detaining and arresting people critical of the government at demonstration sites, on the Internet and in their homes. The achievements of those whose struggles for human rights and democracy stained with blood and sweat are on the verge of being turned back, repressed and destroyed. But we will resist and we will not bow to violence so that everyone can enjoy universal human rights. --excerpt from the 2008 Declaration of Human Rights

A total of 1,300 people from various fields, including a group of local human rights organizations called the Conference on Human Rights Groups, is set to announce the “2008 Declaration of Human Rights” today, on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The South Korean declaration retains the basic principles and meaning of the UDHR and outlines the human rights values that South Korean society should achieve by embracing the social changes over the past 60 years, the achievements of the human rights movement and the unique conditions in Korea. The declaration represents the first time nearly all domestic human rights and social organizations have worked together, and was crafted beginning in October through a variety of debates, workshops, lectures and seminars with people in a variety of fields.

Though the release of the declaration was planned to coincide with the anniversary of the UDHR, the timing also reflects the sense of crisis about the state of human rights in South Korea, which has improved since the 1987 pro-democracy uprising, began to collapse after the administration of President Lee Myung-bak was inaugurated.

Park Rae-gun, an activist with the Sarangbang Group for Human Rights, the group that proposed the declaration, said, “The incumbent administration doesn’t have the least bit of interest in human rights because President Lee hasn’t mentioned the word ‘human rights’ since his inauguration, except for North Korean human rights. Coupled with the worsening economic conditions, in particular, the biggest problem is that underprivileged people’s ‘right to survive’ could be mercilessly ruined.”

The declaration consists of 29 articles. Article 3 of the declaration, which deals with social rights, says: “The nation should ensure that all members of society have the necessary social services.” Articles 1 and 2 deal with the universal value of human rights.

Human rights organizations expressed grave concern over a series of bills submitted to the National Assembly they characterize as “vicious” and say are against human rights. The groups say that if the bills pass, they will be clearly cause the state of human rights in the country to go backwards.

Many of the controversial bills were submitted by ruling Grand National Party lawmakers. A bill to ban demonstrators from wearing masks was submitted by GNP Rep. Shin Ji-ho and another to tighten regulations on protests on major roads was submitted by GNP Rep. Seong Yoon-hwan. A bill to implementation of a “Cyber Defamation Act,” which would impose heavier punishments on people for acts of defamation on the Internet, was submitted by 23 lawmakers, including the GNP’s Jang Yoon-seok, and is awaiting approval by the parliamentary committee on legislation and judiciary.

The human rights organizations also expressed concern about the “National Intelligence Service Act,” which would allow the NIS to expand its intelligence-gathering abilities. It is representative of the “vicious” laws against human rights and should not be passed, the groups said.

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