NHRCK: "Confrontational Investigation of Perpetrators Without Consent of School Violence Victims Violates Human Rights"

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) has determined that the investigation method of confronting the perpetrator student without the consent of the school violence victim student constitutes a human rights violation.

On the 5th, the NHRCK announced that on the 20th of last month, it recommended the chief of police at Police Station A to issue a caution to the responsible police officer regarding the unfair face-to-face investigation of the school violence victim student and to conduct job training for the school-dedicated police officers.

According to the NHRCK, a school-dedicated police officer belonging to Police Station A, while handling a school violence report case, made the victim student participate in a face-to-face investigation with the perpetrator students despite the victim expressing a desire not to meet them. The victim student filed a complaint with the NHRCK, claiming it was a human rights violation.

The police officer responded to the NHRCK, stating, "The school said that the students involved were more than just simple classmates and had a close relationship, so they encouraged a three-party meeting to talk and resolve misunderstandings, which would help the victim student." Furthermore, the officer explained, "Considering various circumstances, including concerns that if the three-party meeting did not take place, there might be school violence reports accusing the victim as the perpetrator, and during the interview, when the victim student expressed discomfort being with the perpetrator students, the face-to-face meeting was immediately ended."

However, the NHRCK judged, "Although it was possible to confirm the victim's psychological and mental state and conduct sufficient interviews to obtain consent before the face-to-face investigation, the victim student was made to confront the perpetrator students without consent based on an arbitrary decision," and added, "Forcing a victim student who is not psychologically or mentally prepared to meet with the perpetrator students caused psychological pressure and anxiety, which infringed upon the victim student's right to pursue happiness."

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