CAT/C/KOR/CO/3-5
under the Rome Statute and which stipulates in article 6 that a statute of limitations shall
not be applied to genocide and other crimes;
(c)
The adoption of the Habeas Corpus Act, on 21 December 2007, and its
amendment, in 2010;
(d)
The amendments made in 2008 and 2016 to the Mental Health Act
prohibiting, inter alia, violence and cruel acts in mental health facilities and tightening the
procedures for the involuntary admission of psychiatric patients;
(e)
The adoption in 2010 of the Act on the Protection of Children and Juveniles
from Sexual Abuse;
(f)
The adoption in 2012 of the Act for the Prevention of Suicide and the
Creation of a Culture of Respect for Life;
(g)
The amendment made in 2012 to article 297 of the Criminal Act changing the
definition of “victim of rape” from “woman” to “person”;
(h)
The amendment made in 2013 to the Criminal Act establishing trafficking in
human beings as a crime with a view to implementing the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress
and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the
United Nations Convention against Transnational Organized Crime;
(i)
The adoption in 2013 of the Refugee Act;
(j)
The adoption in 2014 of the Act on Special Cases of Punishment for Child
Abuse Crimes and its revision in 2016 expanding the list of professions whose practitioners
are in contact with children and are obliged to report child abuse crimes.
5.
The Committee further welcomes the initiatives of the State party to amend its
policies, programmes and administrative measures to give effect to the Convention,
including:
(a)
The drawing up of the first and second national action plans for the
promotion and protection of human rights, covering the periods 2007-2011 and 2012-2016
respectively, and the creation of the National Human Rights Policy Council to implement
them, as well as the work being done with a view to adopting the third such action plan;
(b)
violence;
The establishment in 2008 of the group home project for female victims of
(c)
The issuance on 19 May 2009, by the military, of the directive on unit
management, inter alia, to prevent ill-treatment and abuse, including hazing, and the
implementation since 2009 of the Suicide Prevention Programme in the military;
(d)
The introduction in July 2010 of the Korea Information System of Criminal
Justice Services for persons under arrest or in detention;
(e)
The setting up in 2011 of the Women and Children Crime Investigation
Division at the Seoul Central District Prosecutor’s Office, the subsequent establishment of
similar entities in major cities by February 2017 and the designation by the courts of
divisions charged exclusively with trials involving sexual crimes.
C.
Principal subjects of concern and recommendations
Pending follow-up issues from the previous reporting cycle
6.
The Committee takes note of the State party’s replies to its previous concluding
observations and notes that its recommendations concerning the following issues have been
partially implemented: reinforcing human rights education, awareness-raising and training
activities for law enforcement and correctional facility staff (see CAT/C/KOR/CO/2, para.
7); amending the Criminal Procedure Act to guarantee the right of legal counsel to be
present during interrogations and investigations (ibid., para. 9); limiting the use of
“substitute cells” and constructing new detention facilities (ibid., para. 13); providing
access to medical care and conducting suicide prevention programmes in detention facilities
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