KWDI Korean Women’s Development Institute

Abstract

A Study of Establishing Protection and Support System for Human Trafficking Victims

Mijeong Lee

Yeunjoo Chung

Seeun Hong

Sooyeon Jung

Eung Hyeok Chang

 

 

Through the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking Prevention, which will be enforced in 2023, South Korea has installed a device to accommodate the definition of human trafficking in accordance with the UN Protocol to Prevent Human Trafficking, and to identify and protect victims. In accordance with the enforcement of the Act, the urgent policy tasks of constructing a support system that identifies victims of human trafficking and that links them to relevant agencies have emerged. Accordingly, in this research, we examined the research literature and reviewed cases of policy from foreign countries that have extensive experience in protecting and supporting victims. We also conducted in-depth interviews with people such as academic experts, activists, and police to grasp the reality of human trafficking in South Korea with the intention of preparing specific measures for the protection and support of victims of human trafficking.

 

We examined the relevant international debate related to the development of systematic measures that can identify, protect, and support victims of human trafficking. In the international community, with the UN Protocol to Prevent Human Trafficking as a basis, the "National Action Plan to Combat Human Trafficking," the "Council of Europe Convention on the Eradication of Human Trafficking," and the "EU Guidelines for the Prevention of Human Trafficking and the Protection of Victims," etc., have been adopted, and every country in the world has been conducting activities to prevent human trafficking crimes and protect and support victims based on these conventions and guidelines.

 

Meanwhile, the “2022 Trafficking in Persons Report” published by the U.S. State Department downgraded South Korea's status in cracking down on human trafficking to Level 2, pointing out forced prostitution and the forced labor of migrant workers as the reason. Specifically, compared to 2020, the number of indictments related to human trafficking has decreased, and countermeasures have not been prepared for foreigners who are victims of prostitution.

 

The report referenced forced deportation without appropriate investigation or services offered to victims as reasons for the downgrade, and also made recommendations for improvement in terms of prosecution, victim protection, and human trafficking prevention. As such, South Korea is still classified by international standards as a country that needs improvement in identifying and protecting human trafficking victims. In fact, we can see through examining media reports, etc., that human trafficking is occurring in South Korea in the exploitation of the disabled for labor, the sexual exploitation of migrant women, the prostitution of vulnerable women, the exploitation of migrant workers, and the exploitation of migrant fishermen.

 

In order for the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, which will be enforced in 2023, to function properly as a law to protect victims, victim identification indicators were created to distinguish victims of "human trafficking, etc.” It is necessary to establish laws and procedures that can support and protect victims for their relief and recovery, as well as a system to link investigative agencies and victim support agencies. However, identifying victims of human trafficking is the most difficult area, and the main reason is because the victims do not actively tell others that they are victims, as they are often engaged in other criminal activities and do not want to be punished for their crimes.

 

Furthermore, victims often do not recognize that they themselves are victims. However, in order to properly identify human trafficking victims and maintain protection and support for them afterwards, it is essential to have appropriate identification indicators and detailed identification procedures. To this end, it is necessary to present systematized procedures, identification tools, and guidelines for proper identification in human trafficking.

 

In order to examine cases of policies that have been implemented to support victims of human trafficking crimes in foreign countries, we analyzed the definition of human trafficking in various countries and reviewed their delivery system for victim support, etc. We found that three countries (the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia) established departments or ministries exclusively dedicated to human trafficking and supporting victims. However, even though those countries have that, only a fraction of people received support compared to the actual number of victims, while the majority of victims were not identified or could not receive rapid support or protection. This confirms that the problems South Korea faces are also experienced in other countries.

 

We conducted a total of 58 in-depth interviews with 31 people such as human trafficking experts, activists, lawyers, and police. We asked their opinions on relevant laws and systems, and asked questions about victims' routes of entry and the environments in which they were victimized, victim identification and protection processes, needed support, etc. With regard to laws and systems, experts pointed out the problem that it is difficult to indict for human trafficking under South Korea’s current criminal law. Currently in South Korea, the punishment of human traffickers is subject to Article 289 of the Criminal Code, but human trafficking as defined in the Criminal Code is limited in scope and difficult to prove. Therefore, it is often not indicted as human trafficking, but punished as an illegality under a different law. In addition, since human trafficking is limited to trading or selling activities, it was pointed out that it is difficult to prevent exploitation before it occurs because if an international criminal organization is an accomplice and recruits or lures in victims, it cannot be punished.

 

Another limitation that was pointed out is that although efforts are being made to identify victims of human trafficking, the method of creating identification indictors is sophisticated and difficult to do, and there is no system that forces mandated reporters to use identification indicators. To compensate for this, the importance of the role of central and regional rights/interests protection agencies was mentioned, and searching for effective measures to identify, support, and protect human trafficking victims, such as providing interpretation and improving awareness related to human trafficking, was emphasized. In addition, through in-depth interviews, we derived the current status of human trafficking victimization and the support system for labor exploitation, sexual exploitation, and disability exploitation, as well as limitations and measures for improvement.

 

The policy improvement measures derived in this study are summarized as follows.

 

First, efforts should be made to raise social awareness of human trafficking in the wake of the enforcement of the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, and policy efforts should be made to familiarize all mandatory reporters, as well as police, prosecutors, maritime police, supervisory labor watchdogs, and immigration office workers with the concept of “human trafficking, etc.” as presented in the law. To this end, it is necessary to actively publicize the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, which will soon be enforced, and make efforts to improve social awareness of human trafficking.

 

Second, in order to establish a system to find and support victims of human trafficking, the direction of work as regards the role of rights/interests protection agencies, following the enforcement of the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking, should be drawn up in a manual and distributed to relevant agencies, including mandatory reporters and investigative agencies.

 

Third, in support of disabled victims of human trafficking whose connection with society has been cut off, daily life should be supported, such as the use of public transportation, personal hygiene management, various vocational training programs, and registration for the national basic livelihood payment.

 

Fourth, when identifying human trafficking victims, we proposed a wide interpretation of the Act on the Prevention of Human Trafficking and the application of the National Human Rights Commission's identification indicators. In the case of sex workers who are not able to be confirmed as victims, the victimization should be separated from other domains where they may be criminalized, divided into "initial screening stages" and "official decision stages," and human trafficking victim identification indicators should be applied.

 

Fifth, there is a need to improve the police response system related to human trafficking. In particular, when there are crackdowns related to sex work, we suggested making efforts to identify and protect victims by connecting them with support organizations. There is also a need to more actively respond to crimes such as human trafficking through work specialization.

 

Sixth, we proposed a labor force introduction system led by public institutions in consideration of the occurrence of intermediary exploitation by private agencies when introducing foreign workers. Furthermore, it was emphasized that the public character of a system for introducing foreign workers should be strengthened to prevent human trafficking.

 

Seventh, in the case of human trafficking victims who are foreigners, the system related to residence status needs to be reorganized so victims can receive sufficient protection measures, and this should be supported. Foreign workers may not be able to report their victimization due to anxiety over their residence status, so it is necessary to guarantee a stable residence status and provide support so the truth of their victimization can be recognized and victims can claim their rights.

 

Finally, we proposed improving translation and interpretation services to protect the basic rights and interests of foreigners who are human trafficking victims. In this regard, after the bodies in charge of the protection and support of crime victims -- the Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of Gender Equality and Family, the National Police Agency, the prosecution office, and the court -- form consensus to provide interpretation and translation services, we recommend that measures for improving translation and interpretation services for foreign human trafficking victims should be systematically promoted.

 

Research areas: Gender-based Violence, Safety

Keywords: human trafficking, sexual exploitation, exploitation of workers, exploitation of persons with disabilities, victim identification