Women : Society : News : The Hankyoreh

A government-level fact-finding survey found that the majority of victims of sexual harassment suffered without violence or threats. The Ministry for Gender Equality and Family recently announced that it would consider changing the constitutional requirements for violence and indecent assault from the current ‘assault/threat’ to ‘consent’, but withdrew its position nine hours after’ The Ministry of Justice opposed. Sexual violence without threats was confirmed to be more common. It is noted that the government is neglecting the blind spot of sexual violence punishment. According to the results of the draft ‘Sexual Violence Safety Survey 2022’ confirmed on the 7th, when they were asked in multiple responses about the situation in which they suffered sexual harassment, the proportion of women who answered that there was an attack or threat at the time. the victim was 2.7% and 7.1%, respectively. Even if you combine the two, that’s less than 10%. On the other hand, 34.9% of the respondents said they had suffered sexual harassment due to ‘the perpetrator’s trick’. Examples of such sexual assault include luring the victim to commit sexual assault by offering temporary advice, or taking the victim on a tour of the new house he has moved into, and then attacking sexually on him. The other answers were sudden sexual harassment without violence or threats (26.6%), sexual harassment by coercion by the perpetrator (18.7%), and sexual harassment by the perpetrator using his position (authority/power) (16.2%). For sexual violence (including attempted rape), coercion accounted for 41.1%, which was more than assault (23.0%) or threats (30.1%). The ‘Sexual Violence Safety Survey’ has been carried out by the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family every three years since 2007 in accordance with the Prevention of Sexual Violence Act (Sexual Violence Prevention and Victim Protection Act), and this is the sixth survey . The Ministry of Gender Equality and Family commissioned the Korea Women’s Development Institute and the Korea Gallup Research Institute to conduct this survey on 10,020 people (48.7% female, 51.3% male) between the ages of 19 and 64 nationwide between August and October last year. Investigators who conducted a fact-finding investigation submitted a report to the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family last January and presented a review of the review of the rape crime component as a policy proposal. The current offenses of indecent assault and rape involve violence and threats which make it difficult for the other party to resist, and this is proposed to be rectified. In the report, the research team said, “Sexual harassment occurs more often in situations such as unexpected harassment, coercion, or using a site that does not involve violence or threats, and sexual violence (including attempted rape) can occur even in situations where there is no violence or threats. It has been confirmed,” he said. But the government’s move is going the other way. On the 26th of last month, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Gender Equality published the 3rd Basic Plan for Gender Equality Policy (2023-2027), and said it would review the introduction of ‘rape without consent’, which would amend the constitutional requirements. for rape from ‘assault/threat’ to ‘with or without consent’ However, it was withdrawn after half a day due to opposition from the Ministry of Justice. Women’s groups urged a review of the crime of rape, saying that the current law does not reflect the context in which sexual violence occurs. Choi Yoo-yeon, head of the Korea Women’s Hotline Women’s Human Rights Counseling Office, said, “In recent court decisions, precedents often examine the context of rape cases, such as whether it was forced rape and what the relationship was like between the offender and the victim.” “There is an aspect where the sexual violence of the perpetrator is not recognized as a sexual assault offense unless it is accompanied by serious violence or threats,” he said. Lee So-hee, head of the Korea Sexual Violence Counseling Center of the Korean Women’s Association, said, “The current rape crime regulations, which assume violence and threats, focus more on checking whether the victim resists than the perpetrator’s crime when investigating and judicial agencies that decide whether a crime of sexual violence is committed or not In addition, it is noted that, with incorrect stereotypes about victims of sexual violence, they make them suspicious and force them to be ‘victims’.” He added, “The fact that the Ministry of Justice and the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family have withdrawn the policy task of introducing the ‘crime of rape without consent’ does not fulfill its duty as a state to protect the lives of its citizens is safe. ” On the other hand, among female respondents, the most frequently identified type (multiple responses) as perpetrators of sexual harassment was ‘completely unknown’ (58.6%). Next was ‘bosses/colleagues at work’ (22.3%), ‘people school seniors and juniors, classmates, teachers, professors, and cram school coaches’ (13.4%). On the other hand, the main perpetrators of sexual violence were ‘school seniors and children, classmates, teachers, professors, and hagwon instructors’ (20.5%), followed by ‘friends’ (19.9%), ‘someone I don’t know at all’ (17.1%), and ‘blind date or meeting, followed by ‘Met person’ (12.3%). The report was posted on Prism, a policy research management system, but was removed after the comment . An official from the Ministry of Gender Equality said, “The summary of the report was released due to an error by a work-level employee.” The final report will be released in April.” Reporter Oh Se-jin 5sjin@hani.co.kr