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Abolishment of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, Questions for Student Human Rights
¡ã Abolition of the Student Human Rights Ordinance being passed at the Seoul Metropolitan Council (Source: MBC News)

The abolition of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Student Human Rights Ordinance was decided 12 years after its enactment. The Student Human Rights Ordinance, which was first created in Gyeonggi Province in 2010, has since been implemented in six regions: Gyeonggi, Gwangju, Seoul, Jeonbuk, Chungnam, and Jeju. The ordinance, which is implemented at the local government level, was the first rule to specify the "right of students not to be discriminated against on the basis of gender, religion, family form, and gender identity." The main purpose of the ordinance is to guarantee rights, including the right to be free from all forms of violence, such as corporal punishment and bullying, as well as the right of students to learn and rest, and freedom of privacy.

Thus far, the enactment of the Student Human Rights Ordinance has played a positive role in improving the human rights of students. There was no way to report or file a complaint before the ordinance was enacted. Now, mediating actual disputes through the establishment of a human rights organization within the Office of Education is possible. According to the data from the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's survey on students’ human rights, elementary, middle, and high school students' experiences of corporal punishment and verbal violence have decreased significantly from about 23% in 2015 to 6% in 2019. In a survey of middle and high school students, the positive perception of the feasibility of realizing one's personality through the liberalization of hair rose sharply from 56.9% in 2015 to 94.6% in 2019.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government's proposal to abolish the Student Human Rights Ordinance was proposed in March last year, in response to religious organizations and parent organizations. However, the Seoul Administrative Court accepted the application for suspension of execution by other civic groups, which prevented the proposal from being submitted to the city council and was temporarily suspended. The suspended abolition plan began to draw attention after the death of Seoy Elementary School teacher in July last year. Due to the incident, the issue of infringement of teaching rights emerged as a social issue, and controversy spread that the ordinance on student human rights reduced teaching rights. In July last year, President Yoon Suk- yeol instructed the government to "promote an unreasonable revision of the ordinance," referring to the ordinance on student human rights. Deputy Prime Minister for Social Affairs and Education Minister Lee Ju- ho also said, "Since the enactment of the ordinance on student human rights, the human rights of students have fallen sharply, and public education has collapsed."

Through this process, the Seoul Metropolitan Council finally proposed the abolition of the Student Human Rights Ordinance on April 26, and it was decided to abolish it with the approval of all 60 lawmakers present. It is the second time in Seoul that the ordinance on student human rights has been abolished after South Chungcheong Province. Regarding the abolition of the ordinance, youth rights groups criticized it, saying that the ordinance on student human rights, which served as a last resort to protect students from discrimination and violence, has disappeared, leading to the retreat of youth human rights. In response, Cho Hee- yeon, superintendent of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education, said, "The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the basis of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, is the 'minimal norm' that should work globally, but the attempt to abolish the ordinance is a declaration that it will not abide by the minimum human rights."

In the April 10th general elections, which took effect this year, the Democratic Party of Korea said it would enact a student human rights law that specifies the basic rights of students and how to protect them. It is time to pay attention to the future direction of the Seoul Metropolitan Government's Student Human Rights Ordinance and the development of detailed legislation of student human rights that will be guaranteed by it. In particular, we hope that everyone will find a balance between the rights of teachers and the human rights of students so that everyone can be respected.

By Kim So-ha, reporter  lucky.river16@gmail.com

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