South Korea’s online sexual abuse has left survivors traumatized for life and is adversely affecting all women and girls in the country, Heather Barr said, “Digital sex crimes have become so common, and so feared, in South Korea that they are affecting the quality of life of all women and girls,”
The women and girls targeted face major barriers to justice. Police often refuse to accept their complaints and behave in abusive ways, minimizing harm, blaming them, treating images insensitively, and engaging in inappropriate interrogation. When cases move ahead, survivors struggle to obtain information about their cases and to have their voices heard by the court.
Interim co-director of women’s rights at Human Rights Watch Heather Barr said, “Officials in the criminal legal system – most of whom are men – often seem to simply not understand, or not accept, that these are very serious crimes,”.
