Human Rights Commission: "Convenience Must Be Provided for Visually Impaired When Providing Election Information"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has ruled that conveniences must be provided for visually impaired individuals when offering election-related information.

On the 17th, the NHRCK recommended to the Chairman of the National Election Commission (NEC) to provide reasonable accommodations so that election-related information posted on the NEC’s Policy and Pledge Plaza website and digital files converted from booklet-type election bulletins for the visually impaired?such as audio and braille versions (digital election bulletins)?as well as labels on USB memory devices containing these digital files, can be accessed and used equally by persons with disabilities and those without.

According to the NHRCK, a visually impaired complainant, Mr. A, filed a complaint after being unable to access certain candidates’ five major pledge files, digital election bulletins, and USB memory devices posted on the Policy and Pledge Plaza website during the 8th local elections on June 1 of last year. The NEC responded, stating, "Materials such as policies and pledges are posted exactly as submitted by political parties and candidates, and the NEC cannot arbitrarily reprocess these files," and added, "Since the candidates are the producers of the accessible digital election bulletins for the visually impaired, the NEC cannot be considered the subject of discriminatory acts in this case."

However, the NHRCK found that the NEC had engaged in discriminatory acts against the complainant. The commission pointed out, "Delivering information to visually impaired persons through posting on the Policy and Pledge Plaza website and sending storage media can be regarded as distribution acts as defined by the Act on the Prohibition of Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities," and emphasized, "Visually impaired individuals must be able to access election-related information through the Policy and Pledge Plaza website on an equal basis with non-disabled persons."

Furthermore, the NHRCK stated, "From the perspective of visually impaired persons, if the storage media does not indicate which political party or candidate it belongs to, it is difficult to consider that accurate election information has been provided. If the files contained in the storage media do not meet accessibility standards for the visually impaired, the storage media itself will become useless," and added, "The NEC can request supplements or corrections for information that does not ensure accessibility for the visually impaired."

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