“Annual Number of Complaints to the NHRCK reaches over 10 Thousand Last Year”
- Consultation, Inquiries also increase by 21.3%, 18.5% respectively -
- Number of Human Rights Violation Cases Decreases, while Increase in the Number of Discriminations -
o The number of complaints submitted to the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Chairperson Hyun Byung-Chul) last year exceeded 10 thousand for the first time since establishment. During the same period, the number of consultations and inquiries registered to the Commission increased by 21.3%(35,508 in 2013) and 18.5%(36,670 in 2013) respectively in contrast to the previous year.
o The NHRCK began receiving complaints since November 2001. Ever since receiving 803 cases by the end of that year, the Commission received two to nine thousand cases every year, reaching 10,047 cases late last year, an approximately 500 increase from the previous year.
o Compared to 2,790 cases in 2002, number of registered cases last year increased by 3.6 folds. The number of consultations increased by more than 12 folds compared to 2,830 cases in 2002, as well as the number of inquiries that was increased by 5 folds compared to 7,514 cases in 2002.
o This reflects a stronger will of the citizens to address human rights violations and discriminations that occur throughout the society as awareness of rights became widespread. It also reflects mainstreaming of human rights into daily lives of the people as the efforts to improve quality of life are being led to human rights advocacy.
o In addition to stable increase in the number of complaints, the number of complaints that were duly processed and completed also reached over 10 thousand for the first time since establishment. Annual number of processed cases gradually increased since 1,856 cases in 2002 (△3,797 in 2003, △5,804 in 2004, △5,350 in 2005 △4,206 in 2006, △6,064 in 2007, △6,466 in 2008 △6,788 in 2009, △8,398 in 2010, △7,095 in 2011, △9,582 in 2012), reaching 10,427 in the number of processed cases by late last year.
< Cases of Complaints >
o Examining cases of complaints received by the NHRCK, cases concerning human rights violations have slowly decreased, while cases of discrimination have increased.
o Last year, violation cases, discrimination cases, and other cases marked 74.3%(7,460), 24.7%(2,484), and 1%(103) respectively, showing that the number of human rights violation cases have decreased and discrimination cases have increased compared to 76.1% of violation cases, 21.2% of discrimination cases, and 2.7% cases in the total accumulated number of complaints received by the Commission since establishment. The change seems to reflect the increase in the number of discrimination cases following the implementation of the Disability Discrimination Act and the increasing number of cases of discrimination including sexual harassment, education, and gender.
o Changes in the number of cases sorted by types of facilities show that cases related to facilities for caring for many persons, such as mental health facilities, have soared, while cases related to correctional facilities, including penitentiaries, have decreased.
o Violation cases related to facilities for caring for many persons, such as mental health facilities, have been 17%(10,168) of the accumulated total of 59,567 cases. However, last year's result shows that 35.6%(2,659) of the total of 7,460 cases pertained to cases as such, showing dramatic increase. Conversely, violation cases related to detention facilities, such as penitentiaries, have comprised 34.6%(20,615) of the accumulated total of 59,567 cases, while last year they reached 22.5%(1,682) out of 7,460 cases, showing decrease by more than 10%.
o This reflects the increase of complaints concerning forced hospitalization, physical and verbal violence, and restriction of external phone calls following the examination of the installment of complaint boxes in mental health facilities and lifting of bans on external phone calls for mental patients.
< Human Rights Consultation >
o On the other hand, trends concerning human rights consultation showed that many cases of sexual harassment exhausted only the means of consultation, without going further to submit complaints. In fact, according to the listings of consultation cases sorted by forms of discrimination, consultation cases concerning sexual harassment comprised 25.7%(764), two-thirds out of which the victims did not go further to submit complaints or take formal case procedures (only 241 cases proceeded into submitting complaints). This reflects fear of the victims that once the cases are registered as complaints, its details may be exposed to the public.
o The number of consultation cases related to facilities for caring for many persons, such as mental health facilities have soared, reaching 7,589 cases last year, a 31.4%(1,815) increase compared to 5,774 cases in the previous year. As it is with complaints, this reflects recent lifting of the ban on external phone calls from mental health facilities.
o Also, in the case of human rights consultations, approximately 90% is done over telephones, with 58% of total number of consultations being conducted anonymously. This reflects the concern of possible secondary damage due to the nature of cases that may relate to matters of privacy such as sexual harrassment, or matters of schools or the military concerning student, and military victims.
o In the last three years, consultations concerning privacy matters including CCTVs are steadily on the increase, reaching 334 cases in 2011, 472 in 2012, 596 in 2013. Majority of the cases are related to surveillance on workers through CCTVs in firms, and surveillance on patients at facilities for caring for many persons.
o The NHRCK recruited additional professional consultants to meet the demands for complaints, consultations, and inquires that have been increasing in the last three years. Also, it plans to strengthen accessibility of human rights consultations by initiating services including conference calls for persons with disabilities and chatting consultation on smartphones by building video, messenger, and SNS consultation system.
