39.4% of Gyeonggi Residents Have Experienced Direct or Indirect Hate Speech

Four out of ten residents in Gyeonggi-do have directly or indirectly experienced hate speech, such as hatred or discrimination against socially vulnerable groups, in the past year.

Gyeonggi-do conducted an online public opinion survey titled ‘Gyeonggi-do Residents’ Awareness Survey on Human Rights’ from February 28 to March 9, targeting 6,380 residents. As a result, 72.1% of respondents answered that human rights are guaranteed as residents of Gyeonggi-do. Only 3.2% responded that human rights are not guaranteed.

However, regarding whether they had experienced direct or indirect hate speech in the past year, 39.4% of the total respondents said they had.

Among 2,516 respondents who had experienced hate speech, when asked about the types of hate speech experienced (multiple responses allowed), gender was the most common at 56.5%. This was followed by ▲ nationality, race, immigrants, minority religions at 46.9%, ▲ age at 46.7%, ▲ persons with disabilities at 44.5%, ▲ appearance at 37.6%, and ▲ sexual orientation at 32.4%.

Regarding how much the human rights of specific groups are respected, children and adolescents (67.1%), the elderly (61.5%), and women (60.9%) scored relatively high, whereas non-regular workers (34.1%), refugees (31.5%), and sexual minorities (28.2%) were below 40%.

The main human rights issues to be addressed for the promotion of residents’ human rights were proposed as ‘guaranteeing mobility rights for socially vulnerable groups (persons with disabilities, pregnant women, the elderly, children, etc.)’, ‘improving working and living conditions for migrant workers’, and ‘support policies for youth housing rights’.

Choi Hyun-jeong, Human Rights Officer of Gyeonggi-do, said, "The diverse voices of residents confirmed through the Gyeonggi-do online public opinion survey will be used as valuable basic data when promoting human rights policies." She added, "We will continue to confirm and reflect residents’ opinions as stakeholders for the promotion of human rights."