Choi Young-ae (

Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...

: 최영애;

Hanja Hanja (Hangul: ; Hanja: , ), alternatively known as Hancha, are Chinese characters () used in the writing of Korean. Hanja was used as early as the Gojoseon period, the first ever Korean kingdom. (, ) refers to Sino-Korean vocabulary, ...

: 崔永愛; born 10 January 1951) is a South Korean human rights activist currently serving as the 8th chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission of South Korea from 2018. She is the first woman to lead the commission as well as its first chairperson with no background of practicing law. She previously worked at the commission as its first secretary-general and standing-commissioner. She was also the acting-chairperson of the commission in 2006. She played an instrumental role in establishing legal foundation for creation of the commission in late 1990s. For over three decades, Choi worked for advancement of human rights - on issues of women's rights and survivors and victims of sexual violence in particular. From 1991 to 2001 she was the president of Korea Sexual Violence Relief Center. In 1992 she led civil societies' movement, which was materialised by enacting special law for sexual violence, and in 1993 she led and won the South Korea's first ever sexual harassment case overcoming absence of related legal framework. In 2015 she was selected as the chair of special committee on sexual violence at Gyeonggi Provincial Office of Education. Before resigning for the chairperson, Choi chaired Seoul city government's Human Rights Committee as well as the Board of Women's Human Rights Defenders, an organisation supporting North Korean female defectors. In July 2018 President Moon selected and nominated Choi as the chairperson for fixed term of three years out of three potential candidates chosen by the first-ever committee specifically formed to recommend to the president for this position upon first-ever open recruitment. On September 3, the National Assembly sent its expressed approval of her appointment and Moon appointed her on the following day beginning her term. Choi graduated from

Ewha Womans University Ewha Womans University () is a private women's university in Seoul founded in 1886 by Mary F. Scranton under Emperor Gojong. It was the first university founded in South Korea. Currently, Ewha is one of the world's largest female educational inst ...

with bachelor's degree in religious (Christianity) studies and Master's in

Women's studies Women's studies is an academic field that draws on feminist and interdisciplinary methods to place women's lives and experiences at the center of study, while examining social and cultural constructs of gender; systems of privilege and oppress ...

Awards

* Seoul Women Award (now-Seoul Gender Equality Award) by

Seoul metropolitan government The Seoul Metropolitan Government is a local government of Seoul, South Korea. The mayor is elected to a four-year term by the citizens of Seoul and is responsible for the administration of the city government. The Seoul Metropolitan Government d ...

(2014) * Grand Prize at the 15th Annual Korea Women Leaders Awards by the Young Women's Christian Association of Korea (2017)

References

External links

Chairperson of National Human Rights Commission of Korea Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Choi, Young-ae 1951 births Ewha Womans University alumni South Korean human rights activists South Korean women's rights activists Living people People from Busan Women government ministers of South Korea