1. In the election of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) held at the UN headquarters, New York, on June 12, local time, President Kim Mi-yeon of the Women with Disabilities Arts and Cultural Network was elected to serve four years from 2019 through 2022 on the CRPD, becoming the first Korean woman to do so. 

※ The 18-member CRPD reviews the reports submitted by every state party to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities every four years on the implementation of the Convention, and recommends a faithful implementation thereof.

° Twenty-two candidates ran for nine vacant seats in the latest election, making it highly competitive. As a result of the Republic of Korea government’s robust activities to garner support for her, President Kim was elected with the support of 99 out of the 177 state parties to the Convention.

° With Kim Hyung-shik of the ROK currently serving on the CRPD since 2011, President Kim’s election to the body marks the third consecutive case of a Korean joining it.

※ Mr. Kim Hyung-shik, first elected to the CRPD in 2010 and re-elected thereto in 2014, is working in the body from 2015 through 2018.

2. President Kim has various experiences and expertise in human rights of persons with disabilities, as can be seen from her contribution to the adoption in 2006 of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and service on the ROK National Human Rights Commission as a policy adviser. As a member of the CRPD, she is expected to contribute to a better implementation of the Convention and thereby to the promotion of rights and interests of the challenged across the world.

3. The ROK, by serving as the chair of the Conference of the States Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2015-2016, helping to open an Accessibility Centre in the UN Secretariat building, and leading the adoption on December 24, 2015, of the UN General Assembly Third Committee’s resolution titled “Toward the full realization of an inclusive and accessible United Nations for persons with disabilities,” has played an active role in the efforts to step up international cooperation in promoting human rights of the challenged. Going forward, the ROK will continue such work and, at the same time, support bids of Korean human rights experts to build presence in the UN’s human rights mechanisms, including human rights treaty bodies, the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee and offices of Special Rapporteurs.

* Among the Koreans currently working in the UN human rights mechanisms are Shin Hei-soo of the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, Kim Hyung-shik of the CRPD, Chung Chin-sung of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, Seo Chang-rok of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar Lee Yang-hee, Hong Seong-phil of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and Baik Tae-ung of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances.

※ The Accessibility Centre at the UN headquarters lends computer screen magnifiers, braille keyboards and other information and communications technology (ICT) equipment to the disabled attendees at UN meetings.

* unofficial translation