Original article in Korean is at this link.

The National Contact Point for the OECD in Korea, which is supposed to prevent human rights violations committed by multinational corporations, is accused of acting in name only.

The National Human Rights Commission examined the workings of the NCP and found that is unable to properly carry out its role of preventing and restricting human rights violations by multinational corporations, and made recommendations for improvement.

The NCP was founded in 2001 to provide solutions to disputes and publish guidelines that multinational corporations must adhere to in the areas of human rights and employment.

Accordingly, our country operates the NCP through the 외국인투자실무위원회, which is within the Ministry of Knowledge Economy and has the goal of attracting foreign investors.

However, the NHRC found that the NCP has received eight petitions in its 11 years of existence, and of them just one resulted in a recommendation, showing that it is not fulfilling its role.

The reason for this, the NCP says, is that the members of the NCP are mainly high-ranking government employees and it is unprepared to receive petitions.

In its operations the NCP appears to be allowing the Ministry and domestic contact point offices to play that role instead.

The NHRC also found that the NCP has failed to diligently distribute the guidelines it produces.

The NHRC, having judged that the NCP’s current organization and operation is insufficient to prevent and restrict human rights violations by multinational corporations, has issued recommendations for operational improvements that include collaborating with workers, companies, non-governmental organizations, and national agencies.

The NHRC also plans to issue recommendations regarding  transparency, liability, and visibility throughout the process from receiving a petition to issuing recommendations, including collaborating and sharing information with non-governmental organizations and establishing definite procedures.