NHRC Issues Recommendation to Related Authorities to Lay Out a Concrete Plan for Reform
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) issued a recommendation to the heads of the relevant government organs to reform the system such that child sexual abuse victims are not subject to additional trauma during the investigation and trial process owing to lack of expertise on the part of persons handling the case or to lack of legislative protections.
The case originated with a May 2003 petition filed by the「Family Members of Child Victims of Sexual Violence,」 charging that child sexual abuse victims were subject to additional human rights violations in the course of the investigation and trial process.
The NHRC reviewed this case and the direction for reform with an understanding that when sexual violence victims are children, there should be special consideration for the child’s mental and physical state over and above the consideration given to adult victims, and second, the current victim-protection measures are inadequate to protecting the bodies and reputation of sexual abuse victims, whether child or adult. Thus, the NHRC consideration of the case was informed by an understanding that there is a need to create alternatives such that the general veracity of sexual abuse claims can be investigated while at the same time, victims’ rights are protected through concrete laws and guidelines for detectives investigating sexual violence cases. The review findings are as follows.
Although child sexual abuse victims are both the crime victims and children, nevertheless: (1) government officers in charge of investigation or the trial incessantly summon doctors to court and investigation hearings, thereby incurring doctors’ refusal to treat such victims, (2) detectives put in charge of investigating such crimes have inadequate expertise relating to victims of child sexual abuse, and (3) under the current Criminal Procedure Act, child victims are not entitled to information about the investigation and trial.
When child sexual abuse victims are put through additional trauma during the investigation and trial process, this weakens or inhibits the victim’s resolve to prosecute sexual violence offenders through the court system, decreases the abuse report rate, strengthens mistrust of the legal system as a means to resolve such problems, and moreover, by hindering impartial legal processes on the sexual abuse crime and the harm caused, it violates the victim’s legal rights and human rights. For child sexual abuse victims, the pain of repeated interrogation about the crime, the fear of meeting the offender face to face or threat of retaliation by the offender and other trauma inflicted during the investigation, as well as the pressure felt during the trial process are far greater than what adult victims feel, and this has made it more difficult for child victims of sexual violence to heal and also tends to inflict greater psychological damage on child sexual abuse victims. The additional trauma undergone by child victims is even graver than that of adults.
Thus, the Commission issued a recommendation: (1) to the Minister of Justice to reform institutions so as to secure the right of the victim, the victim’s guardian or other trusted persons to concrete information about the victim’s case during the investigation and trial process, and to stipulate in the「Guidelines on the Victim Protection while Participating in the Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Crimes」 (currently being drafted) that the doctor’s written testimony be given priority during investigation, (2) to the Minister of Government Administration and Home Affairs and to the head of the National Police Agency to place police officers with expertise on child sexual abuse at each police station, to provide such officers periodic training, and to stipulate—when enacting the「Regulation on Protection of Crime Victims,」—that crime victims and their guardians be guaranteed all their rights and that the agencies assisting such crime victims be notified by the investigating authorities and (3) to the Minister of Gender Equality to undertake plans for the effective administration of emergency medical centers and medical institutions responsible for treating victims of sexual abuse.
The Commission hopes that these recommendations represent an opportunity for reform toward ensuring real protection and extension of child sexual abuse victims' human rights. –End.
