인권보장을 위한 중앙정부와 지방자치단체의 기능적 역할분담론에 대한 소고

Human rights are rights that every human being is entitled to. Basically, with the rise of the modern welfare state people have come to value the quality of life and states have taken on the significant responsibility of protecting the human rights of their citizens. In promoting and protecting human rights, the role of the central government is critical. The role of the central government, for example the Ministry of Justice, that has lead efforts to legislate a framework act on human rights policies or framework act on human rights has been critical in implementing policies that increase the overall level of human rights protection in Korea. If the central government sets basic policy guidelines for human rights and supports and oversees the local government’s action plans for promoting and protecting human rights, it becomes possible to establish consistent human rights protection standards throughout the nation and significantly raise human rights standards in general. It should be noted, however, that the role of the local government is equally important in protecting human rights. Local governance is a system that promotes democratic and efficient local governing administration, balanced development of the locals, and overall democracy by delegating responsibilities of welfare administration to elected officials. It increases the self-autonomy of local citizens in certain bureaucratic matters and thus well aligns with the ideals of liberal democracy that value liberty and responsibility, and significantly promotes the protection of basic human rights. Furthermore, since local governments are institutions seeking to realize the ideals of grassroots democracy, they are human rights friendly; it is thus desirable that they carry out the task of implementing action plans for promoting and protecting human rights. Some examples are human rights indexes, human rights impact assessment and human rights education programs. That's why this article focuses comprehensively on the roles that the central and local governments can play for human rights protection. The division of labor cannot be always clear cut, but through various angles this article suggests that the central government, or the Ministry of Justice, provides the broad framework and carries out the role of supervision and control. Further this article suggests that normative foundation needs to be in place in order to do so. The decision to try to enact the Framework Act on National Human Rights Policies is desirable for creating a legislative basis for the NAP and for improving human rights conditions by creating and implementing human rights policies that incorporate international human rights norms. Through the NAP human rights will become the foundation of individual lives and this article suggests that the enactment of the framework act is necessary so that it can become the basic legislative framework based on which the government can actively fulfill its role of promoting, respecting and protecting human rights as required by the human rights norms of modern society. Once the central government establishes such a framework the local government shall be able to create resident friendly and resident participatory action plans for human rights protection and promotion and thereby improve the level of human rights protection and realize a human rights city. Local governments need to continuously seek ways to promote human rights by initiating programs such as resident town hall meetings, human rights grievance programs, including resident members in the human rights center, and running a human rights experience center. By sharing a cooperative and organic relationship the central and local government will contribute to the enhancement of the overall quality of human rights and reduce the gap in human rights protection.