Reasons for Proposal
Reason for proposal
The Constitution of the Republic of Korea prescribe prescribes “equal opportunities for imprinting in all areas of politics, economy, society and culture” in the full text, “All citizens shall be assured of human worth and dignity” in Article 10, “ All citizens shall be equal before the law, and there shall be no discrimination in political, economic, social or cultural life on account of sex, religion or social status” in Article 11.1 As prescribed, principle of equality is the basic value and basic norm of the Constitution.
It is intended to implement dignity, value, and practical equality of human beings prescribed in the Constitution in every part of our society and seek for prevention of discrimination and rapid and practical remedies for sufferers by establishing a legislative bill on equality as a common act to prohibit and prevent unjustifiable discrimination regardless of the reason and to implement practical equality in every area in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.
Main content
A. The purpose of the Act is to achieve dignity and equality of human beings by prohibiting discrimination, relieving damages from discrimination effectively, preventing discrimination, and implementing practical equality in every area (Article 1 of draft).
B. The Act declares that all citizens shall not be discriminated and shall have dignity, value, and equality right of human beings in every area of employment, supply or use of goods and services, education, and use of public service without righteous reason due to gender, medical history, age, country of origin, people of origin, race, skin color, area of origin, physical condition such as appearance and genetic information, marriage, pregnancy or childbirth, family type and family situation, religion, ideological or political opinion, criminal history, sexual preference, sexual identity, academic background, employment type, and social prestige, etc. (Article 2 of draft).
C. In the Act, discrimination means the action to separate, distinguish, restrict, exclude, or disadvantageously treat individuals or groups by any reason in any area of employment, supply or use of goods and services, education, and use of public service without righteous reason due to gender, medical history, age, country of origin, people of origin, race, skin color, area of origin, physical condition such as appearance and genetic information, marriage, pregnancy or childbirth, family type and family situation, religion, ideological or political opinion, criminal history, sexual preference, sexual identity, academic background, employment type, and social prestige, etc. (hereinafter referred to as “gender, etc.”) (Article 4.2 of draft).
D. Indirect discrimination other than the direct discrimination under Article 4.2, harassment by the reason of gender, sexual harassment, or advertisement to express or encourage separation, distinguishment, restriction, exclusion, or disadvantageous treatment of specific individuals or groups shall be deemed as discrimination (Article 4.3 through 4.6 of draft).
E. The cases that do not belong to discrimination are defined as the unavoidable cases to perform jobs or operate business, the cases to give special treatment temporary to specific individuals or groups in order to relieve existing discrimination, and the cases that are not deemed as discrimination in accordance with the provisions of legislation. Where, such action shall not be against social rules (Article 5 of draft).
F. The Act shall be applied to the people of Republic of Korea and foreigners in the territory of Republic of Korea (Article 7 of draft).
G. The Act shall be applied by the same way to all areas based on digital technology such as AI and big data, etc. (Article 8 of draft).
H. The country and local governments shall survey and study existing acts and subordinate statutes, ordinances & rules, various systems, and policies which are against to the Act and shall correct them to meet the purpose of the Act (Article 9 of draft).
I. The President shall establish a discrimination correction master plan every five years in respect of recommendations made by National Human Rights Commission, the heads, etc. of central administrative agencies shall establish yearly enforcement plans according to aforesaid master plan and shall reflect evaluation result of implemented enforcement plans to discrimination correction policies, and the heads of legislative branch and juridical branch shall establish master plans under Article 10 and shall take such measures as establishment of enforcement plans under Article 11, etc. (Article 10 though Article 12 of draft).
I. Discriminative actions to be controlled in employment, supply & use of goods & services, education and job training of educational institutions, supply & use of juridical procedure and service are stated in detail (Article 13 to Article 30 of draft).
J. Sufferers of discrimination prescribed in the Act may be protected by National Human Rights Commission Act and, if the case of event was accepted as serious discrimination and the respondent does not execute the decision made by National Human Rights Commission without righteous reason, National Human Rights Commission my support the lawsuits (Article 34 of draft).
K. In relation to discrimination prohibited under the Act, the court may order to take temporary measures or active discrimination correction measures (Article 35 of the draft).
L. In case of the damage occurred in violation of the Act, the amount of punitive damages may be decided as 3 - 5 times the damage if such discrimination belongs to malicious discrimination (consideration of intentionality, continuity, repeatability, vindictive property to sufferer, and content and scale of damage from discrimination) (Article 36 of draft).
M. When solving the disputes under the Act, the fact that discriminatory action of separation, distinguishment, restriction, exclusion, or disadvantageous treatment under Article 4.2 shall be proved by the person who asserts that he/she was suffered from discriminatory action and the fact that there was a righteous reason shall be proved by the counter party of the person who asserts existence of discriminatory action (Article 37 of draft).
