Cho Hee-yeon “Abolition of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, a regression in the history of human rights, and reconsideration”

Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education Superintendent Cho Hee-yeon said that he would consider a request for reconsideration of the Seoul City Council’s decision to abolish the Seoul Student Human Rights Ordinance, saying that it is an important “setback” in the history of school and citizen human rights.

Superintendent Cho said this at a meeting with reporters at the Seoul City Council immediately after the Seoul City Council passed the abolition bill at its plenary session today.

He emphasized, “Among the stand-alone ordinances that changed the lives of citizens, the most representative one was the Student Human Rights Ordinance, which was abolished,” adding, “It is an important setback in the human rights history of Seoul schools and Seoul citizens.”

Superintendent Cho issued a statement earlier in the morning, criticizing the decision to abolish the Student Human Rights Ordinance as a “violent act.”

″The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which is the basis of the Student Human Rights Ordinance, is a “minimum norm” that must operate globally, but attempts to abolish the ordinance are a declaration that even the minimum human rights will not be respected.”

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education plans to consider requesting a reconsideration of the abolition of the Student Human Rights Ordinance.

Previously, the Seoul City Council held the 3rd plenary session of the 323rd Extraordinary Session today and submitted the ‘Seoul City Student Human Rights Ordinance Abolition Ordinance’ and passed it with the approval of all 60 members.

City council members from the Democratic Party of Korea who opposed the proposal did not participate in the vote.

Seoul is the second city to have the Student Human Rights Ordinance abolished, following South Chungcheong Province.