SFWF NewsⅡ
2022 International Day for
the Elimination of Violence against Women
Forum on ‘Cooperation strategies to respond to
digital sexual crimes in Seoul’
SFWF NewsⅡ
To mark International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, SFWF held a forum on ‘cooperation strategies to respond to digital sexual crimes in Seoul’. The forum, with organizations that support victims of digital sexual crimes, discussed the current state of digital sexual crimes in Korea and abroad and shared ideas on cooperation strategies to implement policies related to digital sexual crimes.
Here are the main takeaways from the forum. 
2022 International Day for
the Elimination of Violence against Women
Forum on ‘Cooperation strategies to respond to digital sexual crimes in Seoul’
-
[Session 1]
Survey results of awareness on digital sexual crimes among Seoul citizens in their 20s and 30sSession 1 presented results from a survey where 1,057 Seoul citizens from age 19 to 39 participated on the topic of awareness on digital sexual crimes and the relevant policies.
According to the survey, 1 in 3 young people in Seoul have been directly or indirectly affected by digital sexual crimes.
Regarding the types of digital sexual crimes, 75.5% of the respondents experienced “sexually unpleasant messages in online space”. 89.5% of respondents (96.5% for women, 82% for men) recognized the severity of digital sexual crimes in our society.
-
[Session 2]
Seoul’s digital sexual crimes content removal support and relevant cooperation systemSeoul Digital Sexual Crime Relief Support Center introduced the integrated support system for victims, along with the procedures for content removal, and the status of instituations cooperating with the center.
Since the establishment of the cneter, a total of 270 victims have been supported by the center, with 37.4% in their 20s, and 15.5% children and adolescents. The center presented information on preemptive removal support in which the center reqeusts deletion of contents immediately after discovery in the cases involving children and adolescents.
-
In addition, Jacey Kan, policy director of ACSVAW, a Hong Kong organization that works to prevent violence against women, presented on the organization’s efforts to reform laws on illegal filming of sexual contents without consent. She also introduced their support system that includes providing counseling and legal support for victims, and best practices on cooperating with other organizations. In the last discussion, lawyer Seo Hye-jin, chief of women and youth department at Gangnam police station Kim Hee-soon, and the gender equality team leader of Seoul Metropolitan Government’s women and family policy office Ji Myung-kyu participated to discuss cooperation strategies for digital sexual crimes in legal and investigative perspectives.
SFWF, with Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Relief Support Center, won the Grand Prize for crime prevention in October as a result of closely cooperating with the police to arrest perpetrators of digital sexual crimes and supporting victims by removing illegal contents, providing legal and medical support and counseling, and accompanying investigations.
It has been eight months since Seoul Digital Sexual Crime Relief Support Center has been founded. The forum was an opportunity to understand the seriousness of digital sexual crimes once again, with different organizations attending and presenting. SFWF will continue to hold meaningful forums to discuss strategies to quickly and effectively respond to digital sexual crimes.
