“Victims Must Be Proactively Protected During Investigations on Sexual Assault” (04-03-2003)
NHRC Issues Recommendation that Special Human Rights Training be given to Police Officers Violating the “Guidelines Regarding Protection of Victims During Investigations of Sexual Crimes”
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) found that the Police Officer, Lee violated the “Guidelines Regarding the Protection of Victims During Investigations of Sexual Crimes” in relation to the December, 2002 complaint filed by sexual assault victim, Ms. KIM, whose personal rights were violated by Police Officer Lee while under investigation at Namdong Police Station in Incheon City. The NHRC recommended that Mr. Lee receive special human rights training, which is carried out under the auspices of the NHRC.
The details of the complaint are as follows. In December, 2002, after victim Ms. Kim went to the police station to report the man who had physically and sexually assaulted her, Police Officer Lee of Namdong Police Station, in the course of interviewing the report-filer, committed the following acts: used degrading and berating language, placed the assailant in the victim’s presence, ordering them to verbally confront each other (as a method of carrying out an investigative interview), and otherwise treated the victim in a callous and perfunctory manner without any consideration for the victim’s distress given the nature of the crime.
The results of the NHRC investigation are as follows. Police Officer Lee carried out his interviews without taking any measures to protect victim, Ms. Kim, whose pupils were dilated and overall condition was semi-comatose. Instead, he browbeat the victim, saying, “Pay attention! Stop slouching. Your pupils are dilated—Are ya drunk or are ya on drugs. Stop your gibberish—you don’t make any sense at all!” He placed the assailant in the victim’s presence and over the course of the altercation between victim and assailant; the assailant denied having committed sexual assault and badgered the victim, saying, “Did I strip you? Or did YOU take off your clothes! If you lie, you can be punished for slander!”
According to the National Police Agency’s “Guidelines Regarding the Protection of Victims During Investigations of Sexual Crimes” (hereafter, NPA Guidelines) and consistent with the “Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officers” adopted at the 34th session of the United Nations General Assembly, “in the course of examining a victim of sexual assault, when the National Police Agency fails to provide proactive protection and consideration, the victim may suffer from secondary pain such as sexual humiliation; thus, officers in charge of investigating sexual crimes must exercise sincerity and care to carry out the (witness) examination with an attitude of strict neutrality so as the woman reporting the offense does not feel demeaned or humiliated; further, officers must do their best to do all in their power such that the parties concerned do not feel that the officers’ impartiality is suspect.”
Although the guidelines explicitly state such policy, Police Officer Lee failed to take any measures for a victim in need of urgent medical assistance until the victim’s guardian protested the lack of such measures, and used the examination method of having the victim and assailant confront each other verbally, a method that should be used as the last resort in extremely exceptional cases. In particular, despite the fact that the aforementioned NPA guidelines expressly stipulate that the victim’s opinion must be respected in cases where the victim-assailant confrontation mode of examination is in consideration for use, Police Officer Lee, having violated this, carried out the interview the victim and assailant together in an open detective’s office thereby subjecting the victim to the contempt of others, anxiety, intense shame, and sexual humiliation.
The HNRC found Police Officer Lee’s acts to be in violation of article 10 of the Constitution (Human Dignity and Guarantee of Basic Human Rights), and recommended that he attend a human rights training carried out under the auspices of the NHRC.
