UN Human Rights Treaty Body Achieves Milestone with Two Korean Chairpersons Elected Simultaneously... First Time in 18 Years

Two Koreans were simultaneously elected as chairpersons of UN human rights treaty bodies.

According to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the 4th, Seo Chang-rok, a member of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights, and Kim Mi-yeon, a member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, were each elected chairperson in the chairperson elections held the previous day (local time) in Geneva, Switzerland. Each committee consists of a total of 18 members who are international human rights experts. The chairperson is elected by the members of each committee.

Professor Seo is the first Korean to join the committee since Korea acceded to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in 1990. He has been serving as a member of the Committee on Civil and Political Rights since 2021. Professor Seo is regarded as a leading domestic international human rights expert, having served as a member of the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (2014?2020) and president of the Korean Association of Human Rights Studies (2019?2020). His election as chairperson is interpreted as recognition of his high expertise and his activities to promote and protect human rights across the UN, academia, and civil society.

Commissioner Kim was first elected as a member of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2018 and is currently serving a second term. Since 2021, she has been the first Korean to serve as vice-chairperson and chair of the Working Group on Women and Girls, working to enhance the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities by state parties. Commissioner Kim’s election as chairperson is also seen as recognition of her contributions to the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities in 2006, her activities as vice-chairperson of the committee, her roles as policy advisor at the National Human Rights Commission, and as an international human rights expert, reflecting her extensive experience and efforts in the field of disability rights. Notably, she is the first Asian disabled woman to be elected chairperson.

The election of Koreans as chairpersons of UN human rights treaty bodies comes about 18 years after former commissioner Lee Yang-hee served as chairperson of the UN Committee on the Rights of the Child in May 2007. In response, Foreign Minister Cho Tae-yul conveyed a congratulatory message to the two new chairpersons, describing it as "a very meaningful achievement for our government, which has been striving to protect and promote international human rights," according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

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