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Investigation and Remedies of Discriminatory Acts in Violation of Equal Rights [2003] KRNHRC 41 (5 June 2003)

Violations of the right to equality constitute violations of such human rights,
as guaranteed in Article 11 of the Constitution, by the performance of duties
(excluding legislation of the National Assembly and trials/hearings in the
Constitutional Court) of state organs, local governments, or detention or
protective facilities. These are acts of preferential treatment, exclusion,
discrimination, or unfavorable treatment of a particular person generally by
administrative organs without any reasonable grounds.
(1) Violation of the Right of Equality of a Receiver of a Certificate of Qualification by Government Authorized Private Organs
The Association of Korea filed a complaint against the Superintendent of
Educational Affairs of Province. The Association complained that
according to the provisions of Article 27 of the Basic Act on Certificates of
Qualification, which reads, "Those who acquire certificates of qualification
issued by private organizations authorized by the government shall be treated
in the same manner as those who acquired certificates of qualification issued by
the government," the refusal to grant the optional additional score to the holder
of `a certificate of word processor qualification' constituted a discriminatory act.
After investigation, the Commission found that (1) a Certificate of Word
Processor issued by a government authorized private organization is the same as
Certificate of Word Processor, a government technical certificate, in terms of
standards for examination, curriculum for examination, and level of
examination, (2) under Article 27 of the Basic Act on Certificates of
Qualification, the Ministry of Education and Human Resources Development
distributed an official letter to the offices of educational affairs of all
metropolitan cities and provinces, instructing them to take proper measures to
ensure that those who hold certificates of qualification issued by private
organizations authorized by the government are equally treated as those who
acquired government certificates, if there are provisions to give preference to
those with government certificates, and (3) because the Educational Affairs
Office of Province grants optional additional scores to holders of the
government word processor certificates, that it excluded holders of certificates
by government authorized private organizations from receiving optional
additional scores, thus constituting a discriminatory act of violation of the right
of equality under Article 11 of the Constitution.
On June 5, 2003, the Commission recommended that the respondent
organization grant holders of word processor certificates by government
authorized private organizations the same optional additional scores that are
granted to holders of the government word processor certificates. The
respondent organization is reviewing the proposal of the recommendation
issued by the Commission.