Two out of Three Suwon City Public Officials Have Experienced "Unusual Civil Complaints"

Suwon City Hall

Two out of three public officials in Suwon-si, Gyeonggi Province, have experienced harm due to 'special civil complaints.'

According to the '2023 Public Officials Human Rights Violation Survey' conducted by the Suwon-si Human Rights Center from August 28 for one month, targeting 3,072 public officials (78% of the total 3,937) through a mixed method of face-to-face (30%) and non-face-to-face (70%) surveys, 66.9% of respondents answered that they "have experienced harm from special civil complaints."

The specific types of harm (multiple responses allowed) showed that 'verbal abuse' was the most common at 60.7%. This was followed by 'inappropriate titles' (48.5%) and repeated complaints (43.2%).

Also, public officials who experienced human rights violations (3.22 points) showed lower job satisfaction compared to those who did not experience harm (3.65 points).

Suwon-si also investigated the status of human rights violations in the workplace in this survey.

The survey results showed that 56.1% of respondents evaluated "the level of human rights protection in Suwon-si as high." Meanwhile, 30.4% of public officials reported experiencing workplace power harassment, and 7.4% reported experiencing sexual harassment or sexual violence.

Power harassment mainly consisted of 'unfair work instructions' (23.8%) and 'inhumane behavior' (22.7%), while sexual harassment and sexual violence were mostly 'verbal sexual harassment.'

A Suwon-si official stated, "Many public officials complain of difficulties due to some special civil complaints," adding, "We will recognize human rights violations of public officials as an organizational issue and respond more actively based on this survey."

Meanwhile, Suwon-si has enacted the 'Ordinance on the Protection and Support of Civil Complaint Handling Public Officials in Suwon-si' to protect civil complaint handling officials. It is also implementing protection and support policies such as installing emergency bells in civil complaint offices, introducing portable protective equipment (wearable cameras), and providing legal consultation and medical expense support for civil complaint officials. Based on the results of this survey, Suwon-si plans to take more active measures to protect civil complaint handling officials.

Additionally, if human rights violations occur in the workplace, the Suwon-si Human Rights Center conducts counseling and investigations according to the 'Suwon-si Human Rights Basic Ordinance.' Depending on the findings, corrective recommendations, disciplinary actions against perpetrators, and separation measures are taken.