- With regards to the constitutional appeal(2017Hun-Ba127), the NHRCK submitted its opinion on Febr
uary 25, 2019 that punishing women who procured miscarriage pursuant to Article 269 (1) of the Crim
inal Act is in violation of women’s rights to self-determination, health and life, and reproduction.
- The Constitutional Court on 11 May 2019(2017Hun-Ba127) ruled in a constitutional appeal on Article
269 (1) of the Criminal Act regarding abortion that the provision limits the pregnant woman’s right t
o choose freely, which is against the principle that an infringement on a person’s right must be kept t
o the minimum, and places unilateral and absolute superiority on the public interest of protection of lif
e of fetus, which violates the right to self-determination of the pregnant woman. The court ruled that t
he provision does not conform to the Constitution and an amendment must be made until December 3
1, 2020.
2) Questions
- Please provide detailed implementation plan and direction for amendment of the Criminal Act t
hat criminalizes abortion.
34. Protection of victims of violence and sexual abuse in sports
1) Current Status
- In February 2019, after one athlete revealed sexual abuse by her coach, the violence and sexual abus
e in sports has become a social issue in Korea.
- The sports community in Korea has a closed and hierarchical organization structure, in which coache
s with dominant power commit violence and sexual abuse to athletes, and the victims being afraid of r
evenge or systematic concealment were not able to speak out the victimization.
- On February 2019, a Special Investigation Team on Human Rights in Sports of the NHRCK was lau
nched, and it is currently investigating cases of violence and sexual abuse in sports and plans to identi
fy the systematic problem in the industry through a large-scale fact-finding research. However, the inve
stigation team will carry out its activities only for a year and the National Assembly and others are p
ointing out the need for long-term measures including making the investigation team a permanent body.
2) Questions
- Human rights violations in sports are likely to be attributable to its cultural and organizational