Joint Campaign launched to give the social assistance payment policy teeth

Joint Campaign launched to give the social assistance payment policy teeth

Twenty activists from labor unions and civic groups, including the PSPD, groups for advocating the rights of the unemployed, and the Center for the handicapped, initiated on Oct. 24 a joint campaign with citizens in Myung-dong, Seoul to make a secure social assistance policy and welfare infrastructure.

Major labor unions and civic groups have supported the campaign, and several actions, such as sending e-mails to the involved government authorities and collecting data about violations to the social assistance law in the workplace, are being prepared to come out by late December. Also, supporting statements from national and international NGOs are expected to follow.

Choi Young Sun, coordinator of the We-lei civil coalition, describing how low income families made their lives under the current law, said “Still many potential recipients are not included in the benefits of the social assistance policy, and quite a number of those who are already included in the list are alienated from the benefits”. Most groups linked to this campaign had been involved in the policy-making process. Keenly observing what made a difference during the one-year period after implementing the law, they concluded that some effective measures should be added.

The welfare law failed to raise low-income family households to the level where they could live in a safe condition. Things get worse for families with children in middle or high schools, seniors, and handicapped people, who all need additional living expenses.

Um Tai Gun, director of the Center for the handicapped, said ” It is well-known that disabled people have additional living costs, so, consequently, a different approach for this group should be applied to meet the philosophy the law is searching for”.

Yu Uei Sun, director of the Federation group for advocating the rights of the unemployed in Seoul, pointedly said ” The current law recognizes the necessity of establishing special policy measures for those unemployed who have a low possibility of getting a job. The reality is, however, the infrastructure for ensuring that they get a job is not yet in place, nor are there jobs available for the long-term unemployed “. Specific and efficient statutes for making long-term work and employment programs are needed, he added. The joint campaign group is launching a movement to send e-mails to members of the Central Committee for Implementing Social Assistance Policy to urge making the policy effort effective.

Moon Hye Jin, coordinator of the PSPD, said “The campaign is heading in the direction of encouraging the recipients, not experts nor groups in that field, to be vocal in the process by means of the participation and support of local people.”