Based on its suo moto investigation of sexual offenses at the school for hearing-impaired students and accommodation facilities for persons with disabilities in Gwangju, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) confirmed that five teachers and administrators and one accommodation facility instructor had perpetrated repeated sexual assaults against two middle and high school students with disabilities and sexual harrassment against two students during the period of 2000 to 2004.
Accordingly, the Commission recommended that a complaint against the offenders be filed with the Prosecutor" s Office on July 21, 2006. In addition, the Commission recommended that the Gwangju Metropolitan Government, the supervisory authority, dismiss the present four directors and two auditors for dereliction of duty as executives of a social welfare institution, a juridical person which runs accommodation facilities for disabled children, for failing to tackle widespread internal sexual offenses in a proactive fashion for an extended period of time. The Commission also recommended that a new board of directors be organized. This is the first time that the Commission recommended dismissal of executives of a social welfare juridical person for sloppy operation and management.
The complaint was filed in November 2005 by a committee set up to investigate sexual assaults which had been committed at a Gwangju special school for hearing-impaired students. In view of the complainant" s argument and other circumstantial evidence, the Commission believed that unconfirmed sexual offenses other than those specified in the complaint had also occurred. To comprehensively address the structural problems that allowed the sexual offenses to occur, such as legal and institutional loopholes and general practices, the Commission embarked on an ex officio investigation in March 2006, which led to said decision.
Based on the findings of the investigation, the Commission confirmed that six persons had perpetrated sexual offenses including additional crimes committed by the an administrator and a facility instructor, who had already been arrested and sentenced to terms in prison. These faculty members of the special school and adjunct accommodation facilities had categorically denied the charges brought against them. However, their rape or sexual harrassment of middle and high school students was acknowledged in statements by the victims, testimony by witnesses, and circumstantial evidence. Under these circumstances, the Commission decided to file a complaint with the Prosecutor" s Office against the six persons on sexual assault charges.
In addition, the ex officio investigation by the Commission revealed that these sexual crimes constituted serious dereliction of duty by the social welfare institution as a juridical person. Notwithstanding that the operations of the juridical person, which runs four establishments including a special school, dormitory, workshop, and working facility, were funded by the central and local government with almost no contributions from the juridical person for the last five years, it has been " privatizing the property" which failed to serve the public interest pursuant to the Social Services Act, according to the Commission.
On the basis of said investigation findings, the Commission made a recommendation to the Gwangju Metropolitan Government for the dismissal of the executive staff and the organization of a new executive team to prevent recurrence of such incident.
The Commission also noted problems in the education of hearing-impaired students. It recommended that the Minister of Education and Human Resources Development take steps to improve the quality of education for the hearing-impaired. It specifically recommended raising the percentage of teachers with sign language interpreter qualifications at special schools for hearing-impaired students, expanding the vocabulary of the standard sign language, and producing more effective education materials. The Commission also recommended to the Gwangju education superintendent that a professional treatment program be implemented for victims at the school and that a counseling system dedicated to sexual assault issues be established at the school.
