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| ▲ U.N. Special Rapporteur for truth and justice Fabian Salvioli speaks during a press conference in Seoul on June 15, 2022. (Yonhap) |
UN rapporteur-Korea visit
U.N. rapporteur calls on Seoul to promptly redress legacy of human right violations
By Park Boram
SEOUL, June 15 (Yonhap) -- U.N. Special Rapporteur for truth and justice Fabian Salvioli called on the South Korean government Wednesday to double efforts to promptly compensate victims of serious human rights violations connected to the country's colonial and authoritarian legacies.
The special rapporteur made the call during a press conference at the end of his eight-day visit aimed at examining progress made in redressing the legacy of serious human rights violations committed during Japan's colonial rule, the Korean War and the country's authoritarian period.
"I would like to urge the responsible authorities to continue unabated the urgent task of seeking comprehensive truth, establishing responsibilities, and providing full reparation for the past human rights violations," Salvioli said.
During his visit, the rapporteur met with Lee Yong-soo, a 93-year-old activist who was sexually enslaved by the Japanese military during World War II, a civic group for the victims of a 1948 civilian massacre on the island of Jeju as well as victims of fabricated espionage charges under the country's past authoritarian regimes.
Salvioli traveled to the sites of the May 18 democratization uprising in 1980 in the southern city of Gwangju as well as other historic cases of human rights violations.
The rapporteur recognized measures taken by the government so far in seeking truth behind the legacy of serious human rights violations, but said "a comprehensive reparation process must urgently be adopted to ensure full reparation to all categories of victims."
In particular, he urged state agencies accused of human rights violations, such as the National Intelligence Service, to provide unrestricted information access to the national truth-seeking commission while calling to exclude the application of statute of limitations to all serious human rights violation cases.
"Accountability and legal redress to victims are essential pillars of transitional justice as it provides the basis for restoring society's trust in the state and its institution," Salvioli said, adding that is "a duty of the state under international law."
Concerning Japan's wartime sexual enslavement of Korean women and other rights violations involving third countries, he called on those countries "to assist in the task of providing access to truth, accountability, reparation, and memorialization of the harm suffered."
Based on the results of his visit to Korea, Salvioli will compile a report to be presented to the Human Rights Council in September 2023.
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