Direct Request (CEACR) - adopted 2010, published 100th ILC session (2011)

Vocational Rehabilitation and Employment (Disabled Persons) Convention, 1983 (No. 159) - Republic of Korea (Ratification: 1999)

The Committee notes the Government’s report received in September 2009 including its replies to the 2005 direct request.

Article 2. Formulation, implementation, and periodic review of national policy. The Committee notes with interest the adoption of the Anti‑Discrimination against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act in April 2008, which requires employers to provide proper amenities and services so that employees with disabilities have access to equal working conditions. It also enables individuals to file discrimination complaints with the National Human Rights Commission for recommendations, orders or fines. The Government also indicates the end of the second five-year plan for employment promotion for the disabled in 2007 and briefly mentions the third five-year plan. The Committee invites the Government to include in its next report information on the indicators showing progress in the quality of employment available to workers with disabilities under the Anti-Discrimination against and Remedies for Persons with Disabilities Act. The Committee also asks the Government to provide information on the third five-year plan, including any policy changes on vocational rehabilitation and employment of persons with disabilities instigated by the review of the Government’s previous programmes and measures.

Article 3. Promotion of employment opportunities in the open labour market. The Committee appreciates the Government’s inclusion of employment statistics on persons with disabilities, showing an increase in the employment rate from 1.18 per cent in 2003 to 1.73 per cent in 2008, raising the total number of handicapped employed persons from 28,139 to 104,132 in the same time period. The Committee further notes that the mandatory quota imposed on the public and private employers under the Act on employment promotion and vocational rehabilitation for the disabled has increased from 2 per cent to 3 per cent in 2009 and that, since 2004, such requirement applies to all private employers with more than 50 employees. The Government, however, indicates that the success of the mandatory employment system has had the unintended consequence of marginalizing persons with severe disabilities since the increased employment opportunities chiefly benefit those with mild disabilities. The Committee notes that the third five-year employment promotion plan aims to improve the quota system’s efficacy regarding persons with severe disabilities. The Committee invites the Government to continue providing in its next report the relevant employment statistics and other relevant data disaggregated, as much as possible, by age, sex and the nature of disability, as well as information on the impact of the third five-year employment promotion plan on increasing employment opportunities for all persons with disabilities.