[Exclusive] Military Sexual Violence and Abuse Persist... Ineffective Ombudsman System of the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission

Only 449 Military Human Rights Complaints in 5 Years
6% of Consultations at the Civilian Military Human Rights Center

In conscription countries like Korea, issues related to sexual minorities, including homosexuality, remain challenging social problems to address as they are intertwined with sexual violence issues within the military.
(Photo by Asia Economy DB)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Jun-yi] It has been revealed that the Defense Ombudsman system established within the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission (ACRC) to prevent human rights violations such as harsh treatment within the military is not being properly utilized. Due to low awareness and trust, the civilian organization Military Human Rights Center is effectively taking over its role.

According to data titled ‘Results of Handling Military Sector Grievances by the Defense Ombudsman of the ACRC in the Last Five Years,’ submitted by Hwang Un-ha, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, on the 13th, there were 449 human rights-related military grievances among military complaints during this period. This is only about 6% of the 7,361 consultations received by the Military Human Rights Center during the same period.

The Defense Ombudsman system was separately established within the ACRC in 2006 with the purpose of investigating and handling various rights violations in the defense, military, and veterans sectors, following discussions in the National Assembly triggered by the so-called ‘Private Kim Il-byeong shooting incident’ in 2005. Even after nearly 16 years, incidents such as sexual violence and harsh treatment within the military, including the ‘late Sergeant Lee Ye-ram death case,’ continue to occur, but the utilization rate of the system remains low.

The problem with these incidents is that the entire process?from the victim reporting the facts externally to taking action?does not function properly. In particular, the failure of the state institution, the Ombudsman, to operate means that the government is passively responding to preventing harm.

[Source: Office of Hwang Unha, Democratic Party of Korea, Data submitted by the Anti-Corruption and Civil Rights Commission]

The annual number of military grievances handled through the Ombudsman fell from 96 cases in 2017 to 76 in 2019, then recovered to 96 in 2021, but did not exceed an average of 90 cases per year. In contrast, the number of consultations received by the Military Human Rights Center increased from 1,036 to 1,708 during the same period, growing by more than 40% over five years.

Especially with the launch of the independent body ‘Military Human Rights Protection Officer’ under the National Human Rights Commission in July this year, responsible for investigating military human rights violations and discriminatory acts, implementing corrective measures, and protecting victims, the effectiveness of the Defense Ombudsman system is expected to decline further.

Representative Hwang said, “Although human rights-related incidents and accidents within the military continue unabated, the official body, the ACRC Ombudsman, is failing to play its role in preventing these situations,” adding, “There is a need to systematize the response to military human rights violations, which are currently handled separately, by establishing a public-private consultative body to enable one-stop processing with a single report.”