3. Sexual Exploitation (Article 34 of CRC)
Child Sexual Abuse (CRC/C/KOR/3-4, para. 254; CRC/C/KOR/Q/3-4, para. 31~33, 50,
61~62 and 82-4)
95. The Government has increased protection of the victims of child sexual
abuse in the course of criminal proceedings, but the problem of secondary damage
remains unresolved. In effect, the investigators, in many cases, have the victims of
sexual abuse make repeated statements, induce them to make wanted statements or fail
to take into consideration of the characteristics of children’s statements. According to
the Measures to Prevent Repeated Child Sexual Violence and Protect Children released
by the Korean Women’s Development Institute in 2008, in 34% of the cases of child
sexual violence, the victims had to repeat their statement in the process of investigation.
Despite the presence of the dedicated investigator system, the investigators cannot be
trained to have sufficient expertise, because they are transferred to other assignments
after working for one year or two. In the process of interrogation, a child victim is
supposed to be accompanied by a person he/she trusts, but in some cases, he/she was
accompanied mistakenly by the person who was in favor of the offender. Furthermore,
protection is not sufficient for the victims who are to give testimony in court: for
instance, the courts of law in Korea have little space for a child to wait in before taking
the witness stand in court.
96. Schools have a legal obligation to provide sexual education and preventive
education on sexual violence to the students, but their performance report is simply a
formality. The question has been raised about effectiveness of the education programs at
school, since schools usually conduct a one-off program on prevention of sexual abuse,
by giving a lecture in the auditorium or broadcasting a lecture to the whole students or
giving out printed materials.
97. Starting from June 2009, medical treatment under custody has been
conducted for the criminals of sexual violence with sexual disposition. This program,
however, has been criticized for neither having clear standards for evaluation nor
providing systematic and specialized treatment. The other programs that are operated by
correctional institutions are usually short-lived or inconsistent. It is required to secure
specialized workforce and develop such programs as are tailored to the characteristics of
target groups. Besides, there are no accurate data or evaluations on the status and
effectiveness of the policy measures to prevent repeated crimes.
98. NHRCK recommended in June 2010 that the Government should improve
the policy measures to protect human rights of child victims of sexual violence and
support them. To the end, the Government first should strengthen the protection for a
child victim in the process of criminal proceedings, by ensuring that all of the
concerned parties, including police officers, participate in the session of the child
victim’s initial statement; the rotational position system is improved or incentives are
offered for long-term engagement and a special investigation team is organized; the law
is upgraded to prevent abuse of the provision that the child victim is accompanied by
the person he/she trusts, and the court arrangements are more child-friendly. Second, the
Government should take actions to ensure that schools are more active and
responsive in providing preventive education on sexual violence. Third, it should
establish correctional education and medical treatment programs for the criminals
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