Book contents
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- 9 From “We Are Not Machines, We Are Humans” to “We Are Workers, We Want to Work”
- 10 From Invisible Beneficiaries to Rights Bearers
- 11 The Politics of Postponement and Sexual Minority Rights in South Korea
- 12 Discovering Diversity
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
12 - Discovering Diversity
The Anti-discrimination Legislation Movement in South Korea
from Part III - Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 April 2021
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Rights Claiming in South Korea
- Copyright page
- Dedication
- Contents
- Contributors
- Acknowledgments
- Abbreviations
- Introduction Rights in Action
- Part I Rights in Historical Perspective
- Part II Institutional Mechanisms for Rights Claiming
- Part III Mobilizing Rights for the Marginalized
- 9 From “We Are Not Machines, We Are Humans” to “We Are Workers, We Want to Work”
- 10 From Invisible Beneficiaries to Rights Bearers
- 11 The Politics of Postponement and Sexual Minority Rights in South Korea
- 12 Discovering Diversity
- Part IV Shaping Rights for New Citizens and Noncitizens
- Conclusion Findings and Future Directions
- Index
- References
Summary
Despite more than a decade of repeated recommendations by international human rights bodies to enact comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation, South Korea has not done so. This raises fundamental questions about the conditions under which international human rights mechanisms can affect domestic human rights legislation. This chapter argues that despite the apparent lack of legislative change, Korea’s movement for antidiscrimination legislation successfully brought the international human rights norms of equality and nondiscrimination into Korean society. South Korea has long been regarded as a homogeneous society in which assimilationist forces dominate policymaking and culture. Strong opposition to comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation from conservative Protestant groups paradoxically exposed Korean society’s prevalent but hidden intolerance of diversity, energizing the antidiscrimination movement and increasing the visibility of minorities. This process of “discovering” diversity has catalyzed significant changes in social norms and values, which constitute a critical step toward enacting comprehensive antidiscrimination legislation that embraces all forms of diversity.
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- Information
- Rights Claiming in South Korea , pp. 253 - 276Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2021