Human Rights Commission: "Support System Must Be Established for Social Reintegration of Isolated Youth"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has issued a recommendation to establish a specialized support system for the social reintegration of socially isolated youth.

On the 11th, the NHRCK announced that on the 31st of last month, it recommended to the Minister of Health and Welfare that a specialized social reintegration support system be established for socially isolated youth, as their social isolation deteriorates their physical and mental health and has a cascading negative impact on their families who care for them.

The NHRCK pointed out the need to establish legal and institutional grounds for supporting socially isolated youth. Currently, there is no agreed legal or policy definition of "socially isolated youth," making it difficult to clearly include them as policy targets and to provide legal grounds for support. Accordingly, the NHRCK emphasized the necessity of legal and institutional foundations that ensure socially isolated youth can reliably receive social services by defining in law the concept of socially isolated youth, support targets and criteria, support institutions and professionals, support program contents, related research and surveys, information collection, and data management.

The commission also recommended building a support system including training and employment of professionals and designation of dedicated institutions. Although some support programs are available for socially isolated youth, such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s "Youth Challenge Support Project" and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family’s "At-Risk Youth Support Project," there is no comprehensive support system focused specifically on socially isolated youth. The NHRCK stated, "Professionals who observe the condition of socially isolated youth and manage their overall lives must be trained and employed," and added, "A specialized social service provider dedicated to supporting socially isolated youth should be designated and operated to establish a comprehensive support system, and the government should take the lead in preparing the support system to prevent disparities in the quality of social services by region."

The NHRCK also recommended regularly conducting case study surveys, establishing a data statistics foundation, and building a system for identifying and reaching isolated youth. The commission expressed hope that "this recommendation will serve as an opportunity to establish a support system for the social reintegration of socially isolated youth," and stated, "We will continue to monitor related issues from various angles and pay ongoing attention by preparing additional institutional improvement measures as necessary."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.