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Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation Gonggam Human Rights Law Foundation GongGam Human Rights Law Foundation

About Us

In 2004, GongGam started out as the first non-profit and full-time public interest lawyers’ organization in Korea. Pioneering the field of public interest law in Korea, GongGam has been striving to defend the human rights of the most marginalized in our society by providing an access to justice for those whose voices often go unheard and whose presence unnoticed.

GongGam strongly believes that the vision of a fair and just society can only be realized through multi-faceted efforts. Such belief explains why our advocacy is not just restricted to courtrooms but expands into fact-finding and awareness-raising campaigns, among many others.

GongGam’s area of practice includes women, persons with disabilities, migrants and refugees, poverty and welfare, precarious workers, LGBTIQA, business and human rights, children, disaster and human rights, transnational human rights as well as public interest law education and promotion of pro bono.

GongGam works by networking with NGOs, lawyers and academics to pursue legislative reforms, by taking on the strategic litigations, by conducting comparative legal and field research, by providing education and training and by promoting and coordinating the pro bono activities with lawyers in various sectors.

We take special pride and sense of responsibility in being fully funded by grassroot donations from more than 2,000 individual citizens who share our vision and support our causes. Such donations allow us to take cases without charging anything to our clients.

It is our privilege to walk together with our supporters towards a society where everyone can reach one’s full potential.

Thank you for your care and continued support.

What We Do

  • WOMEN

    • Providing human rights protection for migrant women
    • Legal reforms to combat physical and sexual violence against women
    • Addressing workplace sexual harassment against women employees

  • PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES

    • Enactment and implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act
    • Establishment of the Human Rights Protection Agency for the disabled
    • Won a case to have the forced hospitalization of the mentally disabled declared unconstitutional

  • MIGRANTS AND REFUGEES

    • Legal support and advocacy efforts to protect human rights for the refugee
    • Fighting the short-term and non-permanent principle for migrant workers’ stay permit
    • Addressing the human rights violations migrants face at the immigration office

  • TRANSNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS

    • Establishing transnational network of human rights defenders for effective cooperation
    • Monitoring the human rights violation by overseas activities of Korean companies
    • Utilizing the international judicial and non-judicial grievance mechanisms
About

  • PRECARIOUS WORKERS

    • Providing legal support by filing cases for the precarious workers
    • Addressing the multiple layers of discrimination against minority workers
    • Performing research and advocacy campaign to reform and improve labor policies

  • PUBLIC INTEREST LAW IN GENERAL

    • Helping grassroot NGOs’ efforts to monitor the local government’s budget execution
    • Supporting the victims of the societal catastrophe such as the tragic sinking of Sewol Ferry
    • Taking the lead in social reform movement to vitalize the civil society

  • LGBTIQ

    • Advocacy campaign for stipulated ban on discrimination against sexual minorities
    • Promoting the protection of equal rights to marriage and family for sexual minorities
    • Fighting for the decriminalization of homosexuality in the military

  • POVERTY AND WELFARE

    • Preventing the violation of basic human rights of the homeless people
    • Evictees’ rights in public development projects and the resulting compulsory eviction
    • Putting lights in the blind spots of National Basic Livelihood Security Act

  • LEGAL EDUCATION AND TRAINING

    • Awareness campaign for the society where no one is discriminated based on one’s identity
    • Promoting pro bono participation for lawyers in all sectors and industries
    • Providing financial support for the self-subsistence of aspiring public interest lawyers