South Korea – National Human Rights Commission of Korea Trafficking Victim Identification & Victim Protection Index

Women’s Human Rights Commission of Korea – http://www.stop.or.kr/e_zine/60964

When the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children was ratified by the South Korean government and took effect in December 2015, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea created a trafficking victim identification and protection index and recommended that the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, Ministry of Justice, Ministry of Employment and Labor, National Police Agency, and local governments install measures to prevent human trafficking and protect victims based on this index. This is part of the efforts to establish laws and systems to implement the Protocol in South Korea.
Based on the definition of human trafficking prescribed in Article 3 of the UN protocol, the Commission’s victim identification index consists of a total of 27 indices in accordance with three major elements (acts, means, and purpose) of human trafficking. The ‘acts’ element includes recruitment, transportation, harboring, and receipt of persons. The ‘means’ element includes force, fraudulent, and other means and the ‘purpose’ element includes eight items indicating a high probability of sex/labor trafficking and twelve items suggesting its plausibility. The purpose criterion is considered met if at least one high-probability item and two plausibility items are confirmed.

The victim protection index comprises a total of 15 items designed to ensure proper measures regarding the safety and human rights protection of victims are implemented, including one item for shelter referral, five items related to police investigation, three items on immigration matters, two items for the provision of medical service, and four items for the protection of victims from additional victimization.

It is noteworthy that the human rights commission’s index defines human trafficking as including not only trade in persons, but also cases of recruitment of people on the condition of employment and the confiscation of their passports and ID cards in an effort to control their movement and wages.

“Early identification of victims is a starting point for preventing additional victimization and providing help to victims,” stated the human rights commission. “We hope this index serves as a basis for compliance with international treaties on human trafficking and to identify trafficking victims at an early stage so that their human rights can be duly protected.”

Sources:

1. The Newsis, Human rights commission publishes an index for the identification and protection of trafficking victims
2. The Herald Economy, Human rights commission publishes an index for the identification and protection of trafficking victims
3. YTN, A standard to identify and protect trafficking victims is needed

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• South Korea – The Prostitution & Indecency Monitoring Unit of the Korea Communications Standards Commission to Filter Indecent Content in Online Self-Broadcasts
• :  Dec 13, 2016 – Over the five months from November 1, 2016 through March 31, 2017, the Korea Communications Standards Commission will operate an Online Broadcast Monitoring Unit consisting of four working-level units (the coordination unit, illegal content monitoring unit, prostitution and indecency monitoring unit, and harmful information monitoring unit) in an effort to eradicate illegal and harmful content such as indecent materials on the Internet and promote a sounder environment for online self-broadcasts.

  The monitoring unit has set three major goals for the monitoring: to create a sounder environment for online self-broadcasts; to strengthen monitoring and deliberation of inappropriate content; and to establish a cooperative network for joint regulation among users, related organizations, and service providers. In addition to South Korean online service providers, overseas platforms including YouTube and social media sites that enable live broadcasts such as Facebook and Twitter are also subject to monitoring.

  “Through focused monitoring and deliberation, we are planning to report to the police as necessary on online broadcasts that provide illegal content. We will help to create measures to improve the effectiveness of deliberation efforts regarding harmful content in order to promote a sounder environment for online self-broadcasts,” stated the Commission.

  Sources:
  Korea Communications Standards Commission launches Online Broadcast Monitoring Unit, The Aju Business Daily, October 31, 2016.
  2. Korea Communications Standards Commission launches a monitoring unit for a sounder environment for Internet broadcasts, The BridgeNews, October 31, 2016.
  3. Indecent, illegal, and hate materials to be screened out of online self-broadcasts, The PR News, November 1, 2016.