Human Rights Commission: "Public Institutions Must Actively Guarantee Accessibility to Legal Services for People with Disabilities"
"Priority Must Be Given to Accessibility Facilities
When Establishing or Relocating Offices"
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea has expressed its opinion to the Korea Legal Aid Corporation (hereinafter referred to as the Corporation) that the mobility convenience for people with disabilities using legal aid is not sufficiently guaranteed, and has called for facility improvements.
The commission announced on March 26 that, although it dismissed a petition regarding insufficient accessibility for people with disabilities at the Corporation’s branch office facilities, it nevertheless expressed the opinion that practical measures to improve the facilities are needed in the future.
This petition was filed in January last year by an individual using a wheelchair, Mr. A, after monitoring the Corporation’s branches, local offices, and satellite offices since 2021 and finding a lack of accessible parking spaces and restrooms for people with disabilities. According to the commission’s investigation, the Corporation had implemented some improvements such as installing braille signs at certain local offices and repairing ramps.
The commission dismissed the petition, taking into account the practical limitations of making structural changes, since many of the facilities are operated in rented older buildings. However, it concluded that, as a public institution providing legal aid, the Corporation has a responsibility to actively guarantee convenience for vulnerable social groups.
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Accordingly, the commission expressed the opinion that, when establishing new offices or relocating in the future, the Corporation must make it mandatory to consider whether facilities for people with disabilities are in place, and that it should actively improve facilities where possible. The commission used this case as an opportunity to urge public institutions to enhance accessibility for people with disabilities and to ensure the real right to access legal services.
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