Analyzing Social Welfare Facility Employees' Human Rights Violation Decisions from a Restorative Justice Perspective: focusing on the remedy systems of Seoul and Gyeonggi-do province

Abstract

This study examined the importance of the remedy system at human rights organizations with local governments, aiming to provide an improvement plan. It analyzed three cases of human rights violations, settled between 2019 and 2021, of those employed at social welfare facilities of human rights organizations in Seoul and Gyeonggi-do Province from a restorative justice perspective. According to analysis findings, the remedy system of human rights organizations at local governments was implemented based on the participation from victims, perpetrators, and the community. While the system was useful for assisting victims to recover from damages and providing corrective recommendations to perpetrators, there were issues with how it interpreted human rights violations as merely infringements on the freedom of employees, and the actual effectiveness of corrective recommendations issued to perpetrators. With respect to the findings, the following improvements may be suggested from a restorative justice viewpoint. First, more attention and efforts are needed from social welfare facility employees to boost perpetrators' fulfillment of corrective recommendations. Second, the remedy system of local governments' human rights organizations should be strengthened, and lastly, the decisions of human rights violations at local governments should be publicized more widely.