Gyeonggi-do Conducts First Human Rights Survey Among Employees... 48.1% Say "High Level of Human Rights Protection"

Graph of human rights violation experience survey results for Gyeonggi Provincial Government officials = Provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Government

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] About half of the employees at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government believe that the level of human rights protection in the workplace is relatively high. However, most respondents answered that they "just endured it" when human rights issues occurred, indicating a need for improvement.

To foster a human rights-friendly public service culture, Gyeonggi Province conducted the "Gyeonggi Provincial Government Human Rights Situation Survey" over two weeks in October, targeting 3,052 provincial government employees, including civil servants, firefighters, and public officials.

According to the survey results, 48.1% of all respondents said the level of human rights protection was high. However, regarding organizational culture, 44.3% of respondents pointed out that there is a strong top-down atmosphere.

When asked about experiences of human rights violations in the workplace by type, 39.1% of all respondents reported experiencing discrimination based on gender, religion, disability, age, etc. This was followed by violations of freedom of expression (27%), invasion of privacy (24.7%), and coercion to act against beliefs or conscience (20.3%).

Regarding abuse of power, 25.8% of respondents reported experiencing verbal harassment, followed by work-related harassment (21.9%) and non-work-related harassment (14%). Experiences of sexual harassment were reported in the order of verbal acts (9.2%), physical acts (2.4%), and visual acts (2.2%).

When asked how they responded to experiences of human rights violations and abuse of power, 81.9% answered that they "just endured it." The most necessary measure when incidents occur was "prompt and fair response" (33.8%). For preventing abuse of power, respondents cited "strengthening awareness of abuse of power among institution heads and managers" (27.7%), regular surveys on abuse of power (16.7%), and mutual respect campaigns (16%).

An official from the province stated, "This human rights situation survey itself likely served as an opportunity for organizational members to take an interest in human rights issues," adding, "We will work harder to establish a human rights protection system and support victims to create an equal and peaceful public service culture."

The Provincial Human Rights Office plans to conduct the human rights situation survey annually from this year to regularize it, and will strive to foster a human rights-friendly public service culture through distributing human rights and democracy card news and mutual respect campaigns. The province will use the results of this survey as data to understand human rights situations such as human rights violations, abuse of power, and sexual harassment.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.