[Public Voices] The Power of "Together" Creates a Daily Life Free from Violence Against Women

Week for the Eradication of Violence Against Women
A Time to Reflect and Take Action Together for a Safer Daily Life

Lee Gi-soon, Vice Minister of Gender Equality and Family

From the 25th of last month until the 1st of next month is the "Week for the Eradication of Violence Against Women." Every year, November 25th is also the "International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women," designated by the United Nations in 1999. Since 2020, South Korea has designated the week from this day until December 1st as the Week for the Eradication of Violence Against Women through the Basic Act on the Prevention of Violence Against Women.

This year’s slogan for the eradication week is "Creating a Safe Daily Life Without Violence Against Women Together." The word "daily life" cannot be left out this year. The recent violent crimes against women, such as dating violence in Geumcheon-gu, Seoul, and the death of a woman in Sillim-dong, occurred in everyday living spaces where we thought we were safe. According to the Korea Safety Report by the Statistics Development Institute, last year only 25.9% of our citizens felt "safe from crime," which is significantly lower than the overall safety perception rate of 33.3%.

It takes a great deal of time and effort for crime victims and their acquaintances to heal their wounds and return to their previous daily lives. Preventing secondary victimization in advance reduces the suffering of victims and helps restore their daily lives through more thorough support. In the 2019 Sexual Violence Safety Survey, preventing secondary victimization was a lower priority in policy demands for solving sexual violence issues, but in last year’s survey, it rose to the top priority. The factors that help restore daily life after severe violence include encouragement and support from family, friends, and those around the victim. If not only those close to the victim but also ordinary citizens, the media, and all members of society increase their sensitivity to violence, discard prejudices against victims, and distance themselves from acts that promote hatred, crime victims can recover more quickly. The power of "together" is important.

The government is focusing on strengthening the victim support system and improving social awareness to prevent secondary victimization. The Yoon Seok-yeol administration has adopted the protection and support of victims of five major types of violence?power-based sexual crimes, digital sexual crimes, domestic violence, dating violence, and stalking crimes?as a national agenda and is promoting various policies and projects to this end. In January of this year, the Act on the Prevention of Stalking and Protection of Victims was enacted and came into effect in July. The crime of stalking was also removed from the category of offenses requiring the victim’s complaint to prosecute. To prevent digital sexual crimes, illegal recordings involving children and adolescents are proactively deleted, and counseling, legal, and medical support are provided, along with the distribution of educational content for crime prevention.

In particular, to prevent secondary victimization from violence against women, education is supported for investigative agencies such as the Ministry of Justice, the Prosecutor’s Office, and the National Police Agency, and participation in violence prevention education for high-ranking officials has been strengthened to prevent power-based sexual crimes and improve organizational culture. Next year, the stalking victim support project will be expanded to 17 cities and provinces nationwide, providing emergency housing, rental housing, and treatment and recovery programs for stalking victims. To prevent sexual exploitation through online grooming, such as prostitution and the production and distribution of illegal recordings, an online counseling and reporting support system for children and adolescents will also be established. Amendments to the Act on the Protection of Children and Adolescents from Sexual Abuse will be pursued to punish both online and offline grooming acts.

Although social perceptions of violence against women, such as sexual violence and domestic violence, have improved significantly in our society, there is still room for improvement. Let us take this Week for the Eradication of Violence Against Women as an opportunity to reflect on ourselves and those around us. If all members of our society unite their will and actions in one direction, violence against women can be eradicated.

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