대학 인권센터 법제화와 그에 따른 변화, 한계 및 문제

Abstract

On March 23, 2021, Article 19-3 regarding the University Human Rights Center was newly established in the Higher Education Act, and the provision became effective on March 24, 2022. Accordingly, it has become mandatory to establish and operate ‘human rights centers’ in all national, public, and private universities from that day on. The University Human Rights Center performs tasks necessary for the following: i) counnseling on human rights violations, investigation of complaints, and expression of corrective recommendations or opinions related to them, ii) education and public relations on the human rights of university members, iii) prevention and response to sexual harassment and sexual violence, and iv) others to protect human rights of university members.
 With the mandatory establishment of human rights centers in all universities, universal human rights standards can be implemented in all universities, and the foundation for improving the overall level of human rights protection and promotion of university members can be established. However, there were voices calling for improvement measures, pointing out problems and concerns regarding the cases of human rights centers in various universities that already existed before the legislation of university human rights centers.
 In this article, I will first identify the problems and concerns of the university human rights center before the legislation of university human rights center, examine how these problems and concerns were discussed in the legislative process of Article 19-3 of the Higher Education Act, and then clearly summarize the contents on the university human rights center legislated under Article 19-3 of the Higher Education Act and Article 9-3 of the Enforcement Decree of the Higher Education Act. At last I will review it following changes, limitations and problems, and seek ways to overcome them.