A view of the Seoul Central District Court building in Seocho-gu, Seoul. Hankyoreh file photo
‘The victim is not worthy of being a victim.’ This is the reason why the first trial court in charge of the ‘former South Chungcheong Governor Ahn Hee-jung’s sexual assault case’ declared former Governor Ahn not guilty in 2018. Criticism was raised that the ruling was lenient on the perpetrator by failing to take into account various factors, including the hierarchical relationship within the workplace and the fact that sexual violence stems from gender role norms that allow sexual aggression for men and require a passive attitude for women. In order to properly judge the guilt or innocence of a sexual assault perpetrator and provide restorative justice for the victim, the court must have ‘gender awareness sensitivity’, but it was found that one out of two judges did not participate in ‘mandatory gender awareness training’. According to the data on the ‘Status of Judges’ Participation in Gender Sensitivity Education by Experience’ submitted by the office of Democratic Party of Korea Rep. Lee Tan-hee from the National Court Administration on the 26th, the participation rate of judges in gender-responsive education over the past five years was 44.5% in 2018 and 40.5% in 2019. ), but dropped to its lowest level at 35.8% in 2020, when COVID-19 was prevalent. This ratio was 53.3% in 2021 and 51.8% in 2022, and rose slightly to 53.6% this year (January to July), but it was still only half of the level. The participation rate in gender awareness training for chief judges (with more than 15 years of experience), who determine the direction of legal interpretation of cases in the settlement department, is lower. 43.1% in 2018, 43.9% in 2019, 26.0% in 2020, 58.1% in 2021, and 42.1% in 2022, less than half. The Judicial Research and Training Institute conducts gender awareness training every year for judges with more than five years of court experience in accordance with the Gender Equality Basic Act. In the relevant training, ‘Beyond gender equality – diversity, a harmonious society’, ‘A balanced sense of gender equality that a judge must have’, ‘Gender equality from a judge and his/her calling’, ‘For a balanced gender recognition of judges’, ‘Trial and gender’ ‘ and so on. Regarding the reason for the low training participation rate, the National Court Administration said, “Gender awareness training for judges by experience is usually conducted over two years, so (participation rate) is structurally around 50%,” adding, “(compulsory training that must be conducted every year according to law) ‘4 He explained, “We have integrated anti-violence prevention education and gender awareness education.” However, under the current law, there is no basis for integrating the four major violence prevention education and gender awareness education. When this fact was pointed out, the National Court Administration said, “This year, separate from the four major violence prevention trainings, we plan to conduct separate gender awareness training for all court employees nationwide, including judges.” Experts explain that gender awareness education for judges is absolutely necessary. Kim Soo-jeong, secretary general of the Korea Women’s Hotline, said, “Sexual violence (rape, forcible molestation) cases have a higher first-trial acquittal rate than other general criminal cases,” and added, “Gender violence such as sexual violence occurs in unequal relationships where women are not seen as equals. “Judges need to receive gender-sensitive education to properly understand this context,” he said. The Supreme Court also ruled in 2018, “When the court hears a case of sexual assault or sexual harassment, it must be careful not to lose ‘gender sensitivity’ so that it can understand the issue of gender discrimination in the context in which the incident occurred and realize gender equality.” . Rep. Lee Tan-hee said, “Judges with gender sensitivity must be able to consider the situation and position of the victim to prevent rash punishments such as sentence reductions that are excessively focused on the defendant.” He added, “The participation rate in education should be lowered so that judges can develop gender sensitivity. Of course, the court must seriously consider ways to improve the effectiveness of education,” he said. Reporter Oh Se-jin [email protected]
2023-10-26 22:00:39
#단독 #judges #receive #mandatory #gender #awareness #training
