Anti-discrimination law back on table at National Assembly

Human rights activists express their support for the move to establish a law banning all kinds of discrimination based on gender, disability, age, country of origin or other reasons, during a press conference in front of the National Assembly in Seoul, Thursday. Earlier in the week, six lawmakers of the minor opposition Justice Party, together with other four lawmakers of the country's liberal bloc, proposed a relevant bill. Yonhap

By Jung Da-min

The minor liberal Justice Party has proposed a bill to ban all kinds of discrimination based on gender, disability, age, language, country of origin, sexual orientation, physical condition, academic background and any other reason.

This is the seventh attempt by the government or a political party to submit a bill to the National Assembly to establish a law that comprehensively bans discrimination. Previous attempts for such a law, long-cherished by rights groups, have fallen afoul of "conservative" Christian groups that oppose homosexuality.

However, this time the mood may be quite different from the past, as people have become more sensitive toward discrimination and equality, and after Korean society has experienced various hate crimes resulting from discrimination.

All six lawmakers of the Justice Party were joined by two lawmakers from the ruling Democratic Party of Korea (DPK), one from the minor liberal Open Minjoo Party and another from the minor liberal Basic Income Party to submit the bill, June 29. However, they barely met the minimum threshold of 10 lawmakers to propose a bill in the National Assembly.

Members of the Justice Party, who represent various groups among the socially vulnerable, held a press conference on the day they submitted the bill, to call on fellow lawmakers of the 21st National Assembly to respond to calls for the passage of an anti-discrimination law.

Justice Party Rep. Jang Hye-young, who spoke for the 10 lawmakers who proposed the bill, said it was needed now more than ever, especially in a post-COVID-19 pandemic world when inequality striking the socially vulnerable will loom even larger.

"A law banning comprehensive discrimination will be a means to keep our dignity and safety. There are people who are discriminated against without reason in political, economic, social and cultural life. Discrimination leads to hate and violence that denies human dignity. Nobody deserves to be discriminated against because they are weak or a social minority," Jang said during the press conference.

"Passing the anti-discrimination bill will show people why the 21st National Assembly exists ― to protect individuals from worsening inequality."

Jang also said the 21st Assembly should be different from the 20th Assembly which did not bring the bill to the table for legislative discussions due to its fear of some extreme conservative camps.

Although the bill has been submitted, it remains to be seen whether the 21st Assembly will pass it within its term. The country's liberal bloc has proposed similar bills six times since 2007, but previous Assemblies all failed to even properly discuss them within their terms, and they were discarded automatically when the Assembly was dissolved.

The repeated failure of anti-discrimination bills is mainly due to strong resistance by some so-called Christian conservative groups, centering on protestant churches that oppose homosexuality.

Not only the conservative main opposition United Future Party (UFP) but also the liberal ruling DPK remains hesitant to support the bill for fear of losing support from such groups.

Minor opposition Justice Party leader Rep. Sim Sang-jeung speaks during a press conference at the National Assembly, June 29, on the proposal of a bill to ban all kinds of discrimination. Six lawmakers of the Justice Party and four other lawmakers from the country's liberal bloc proposed the bill the same day. Yonhap

Rep. Bae Jin-gyo, floor leader of the Justice Party, urged the UFP to join the move, citing some of its members' earlier tributes to George Floyd, a black man killed by police in the U.S. Nine UFP members observed a moment of silence in front of the main chamber at the Assembly last month, holding messages to express their opposition to all types of discrimination.

"After the death of George Floyd, newly elected first-term lawmakers of the UFP announced their opposition to all types of discrimination," Bae said. "We understand the UFP is hesitant on the issue of sexual orientation but we want to tell them that there is no next time when it comes to matters of survival. They should remember that the anti-discrimination law is a matter of survival for the socially vulnerable."

Justice Party leader Rep. Sim Sang-jeung also called for the DPK's participation in the move to pass the anti-discrimination bill, saying the ruling party should do its duty by responding to the growing public calls for the law, referring to a recent survey by the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) in which 88 percent of respondents said they support the move.

Ruling party's hesitance

But while the conservative UFP members widely remained silent on the anti-discrimination law, the situation is not that different among liberal DPK lawmakers.

Although two of the DPK's proportional representation lawmakers Rep. Kwon In-sook and Rep. Lee Dong-ju participated in proposing the bill, none of the DPK's 162 constituency lawmakers have responded to the Justice Party's call.

In fact, the DPK has been attacked for hesitating on the anti-discrimination issue. Although the first article of the party's manifesto is about ensuring a fair and just society through the abolishment of discrimination and inequality, the party has yet to acknowledge this in terms of the human rights of sexual minorities.

Political watchers attribute the DPK's equivocal stance to President Moon Jae-in. In a televised debate for the 2017 presidential election, then DPK candidate Moon said he opposed discrimination against sexual minorities but, at the same time, he was against homosexuality.

DPK Rep. Ko Min-jung also received criticism for "cowardly" echoing Moon's stance during a televised debate with former Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon when they were competing for a Seoul constituency in the April 15 general election.

At the time, Ko said, "The matter of homosexuality requires a national-level consensus," replying to Oh who said he opposed homosexuality and asked for Ko's view on the matter.

Growing calls from civic society

Conservative activists and members of protestant churches have strongly opposed the anti-discrimination bill. Justice Party members have received a flood of protesting calls since its proposal of the bill.

Such people say that the law, once established, will "threaten" the freedom of religion and expression in the name of equality.

According to the proposed bill, those violating any anti-discrimination law enacted can be fined up to 10 million won ($8,327) or sentenced to jail for up to a year. But the bill does not call for criminal punishment in all cases, instead recommending corrective action.

During a meeting with Justice Party leader Sim at the Assembly, Thursday, National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) Chairwoman Choi Young-ae noted that was aware of the concerns raised by some Christian groups and she had talked with pastors opposing the discrimination ban to explain its full intention.

National Human Rights Commission of Korea Chairwoman Choi Young-ae speaks during a press conference in Seoul, Tuesday, to officially call on the National Assembly to establish a law banning discrimination. The commission suggested it be called the "Equality Law" to prevent people from misunderstanding it. Yonhap

"The law is not about punishing the expression of religious beliefs," Choi said. "There have been many discussions on possible controversial parts of the law inside the commission, and we reached agreements on a lot of them … We hope the National Assembly will have more discussions prior to establishing the law."

Earlier on Tuesday, the NHRCK officially called on the Assembly to promulgate an anti-discrimination law but to rename it the "Equality Law" to prevent any misunderstanding. This was the first time in 14 years for the human rights watchdog to officially express its stance on the issue.

The Equality Law drafted by the commission describes five major concepts of discrimination including direct discrimination, indirect discrimination, harassment, sexual harassment and advertisements that include or allude to discrimination.

"Among OECD member countries, Korea and Japan are the only two countries that do not have such an Equality Law," Choi said during the press conference.

"The Constitution of Korea says no one should be subject to any kind of discrimination in their everyday lives, and equality is the core principle of the Constitution which guarantees the basic human rights of the people … The passage of the Equality Law should be a main task for the 21st National Assembly."