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In 1990, the Republic of Korea ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereby referred to as the ”Covenant”). According to the Covenant, the Korean government is responsible for submitting a report every five years on the state of social rights, encompassing economic, social and cultural rights, in Korea. The UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereby referred to as “the Committee”) reviews the government report.
In 2006, the Korean government submitted the Third Periodic Report, which covers the period from June 2001 to June 2006. The report addresses Korea’s efforts to fulfill the principles established in the Covenant and describes any improvements made since the last report.
The Committee will review this report in November. The Committee follows a specific process to review the report. First, the national government submits the report to the Committee. The Committee then examines the report in a preliminary working group session and returns the report to the government along with a list of issues. The national government replies to the list of issues. Finally, the government participates in a review of the report and the Committee announces its final recommendations for the government based on its findings.
Non-governmental organizations and human rights activists may submit an "NGO summary report,” including a list of questions, for the Committee to consider when developing its list of issues. Additionally, NGOs and activists may submit an “NGO counter-report” to provide additional information for the Committee as it reviews the government report. The NGO counter-report contains in-depth explanations and statements evaluating the government's analysis on the state of social rights in Korea.
The Covenant guarantees a comprehensive range of rights, covering all aspects of human life. These rights include gender equality, the right to work, the right to safe working conditions, the three fundamental labor rights, the right to social security, the right to adequate housing, the right to food, the rights of children and youth, the right to health, the right to a healthy environment, the right to education, the right to undertake cultural activities, and the right to water. Since the scale of human rights is so broad, Korean NGOs that are active in different fields of human rights have come together to create a joint NGO counter-report . Korean NGOs have been drafting this report since April 2009, dividing the workload amongst the organizations according to their respective specialties. The NGOs have held multiple workshops on the overall content of the counter- report. During this process, the Committee members visited Korea, and the NGOs had an opportunity to directly explain the Korean social rights situation in an informal setting.
Gonggam participated in the drafting of the 2008 NGO counter-report and is currently collaborating with other NGOs to draft several segments of the current report, including the general summary and the right to adequate housing. Gonggam also participated in report preparation meetings that completed in September. This process has provided an overall understanding of the social rights situation in Korea, while leading to discoveries of distortions and false reports in the Republic of Korea’s Third Periodic Report. The final NGO counter-report will be submitted at the end of September. The counter-report will provide an opportunity for the Committee to gain an accurate understanding of the current social rights situation in Korea. In turn, the Committee can help Korea to preserve and realize its social rights more fully.
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We launched a series of legal seminars on bankruptcy and credit rehabilitation at a homeless shelter for advocate groups concerned about the protection of rights and welfare of the homeless. We also investigated and called for action in relation to an incident at Seoul Station, one of the country’s busiest subway and train stations and often a temporary shelter for the city’s homeless, in which authorities systematically violated the civil rights of people who had no other place to go. 
Improving the living conditions in temporary vinyl or plastic settlements continues to be a part of our efforts to improve the quality of life for those consigned to subsistence living. In supporting resident associations, we, in conjunction with students of the Judicial Research and Training Institute, offered legal advice and aid in specific projects aimed at obtaining government recognition of these settlements as valid residences for registration purposes, such as running a drive to put up doorplates on homes and helping with neighborhood cleanup efforts. Also, in cases launched in concert with the group “People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy” and “Minbyun” (Lawyers for a Democratic Society), we obtained favorable decisions, which held that administrative officials had erred in not granting requests for address transfers which involved temporary vinyl housing, even though they are not considered legal residences. 
Recognizing that children are among the most vulnerable in our society, we teamed up the National Child Protection Agency to fight child abuse and to raise awareness of issues related to child welfare. After preparing a manual on legal issues related to their mandate, we provided training to Agency counselors and also provided advice to child protection facilities across the country. As part of our efforts to act as a bridge between organizations such as this and lawyers in the private sector who wish to contribute on a pro bono basis, we helped in the formation of a formal partnership between the Agency and the law firm of Hwang Mok Park in which the firm agreed to provide the Agency with legal assistance throughout the year. 
Under tremendous pressure to succeed in today’s society, Korea’s youth are often overlooked as people entitled to certain basic rights. After participating as advocates in the activities of the Commission on Youth Protection, we continue to attend public hearings and present papers on both general and specific issues concerning youth protection such as inequalities inherent in Korea’s education system and setting limits on time spent on after-school studies at learning institutes.
Even with Korea’s Confucius values, our senior citizens of often hidden from mainstream society. The Korean Bar Association (KBA) established a group of lawyers committed to supporting elderly rights. We at Gong-gam worked within the KBA to propose and help form a Committee for Providing Legal Support to the Elderly. We also went further to assist KBA to enter into an agreement with the Korean Senior Welfare Association to provide legal education and advocacy to counselors at senior welfare centers nationwide in order to promote welfare issues and combat elder abuse.
