아동인권의 관점에서 미성년 성폭력 피해자의 영상녹화진술의 증거능력에 대한 「성폭력범죄의 처벌 등에 관한 특례법」의 개정방안 검토

After the Constitutional Court ruled that Article 30, Paragraph 6 of the Old Sexual Violence Punishment Act was unconstitutional on the grounds that it restricted the defendant’s right to cross-examination, the risk of exposure to secondary damage has increased as minor victims of sexual violence need to be appeared in court to testify about their harm and receive cross-examination. In revising the Sexual Violence Punishment Act, the best interests of children should be given the highest priority and special protective measures should be introduced to prevent minor victims of sexual violence from secondary harm in investigation and trial procedures in accordance with international human rights norms. However, the government’s proposed bill on the Sexual Violence Punishment Act guarantees cross-examination of suspects and defendants through the evidence preservation procedure, resulting in exposing minor victims defenseless to repeated investigations and requests for statements. In addition to government bills, several amendments to the Sexual Violence Punishment Act proposed by the National Assembly only stipulate procedural protection measures for minor victims of sexual violence in the investigation and trial procedures, limiting the protection of the children’s rights of victims. Therefore, based on the principle of the best interests of child, I would like to propose revised bill including that at first, the introduction of specific regulations that can realize the principle of the best interests of children in the investigation and trial procedures, secondly, the exceptions to the hearsay rule to recognize the admissibility of video recording statements without cross-examination on considering the age, development level, degree of damage, and aftereffects of minor victims, etc. thirdly, the restrictions and prohibitions on cross-examination on the side of the accused who harms minor victims or infringes on the victim’s children rights, and the express regulations limiting a victim can testify in court just one time. Discussions on the revision of the Sexual Violence Punishment Act should not be conducted in such a way as to overlook or seriously damage the human rights of children victims of sexual violence in order to uniformly guarantee the right to cross-examination of suspects and defendants. Above all, I hope that the law will be amended in a way that can minimize secondary harm to minors during investigations and court proceedings by considering children’s human rights as the top priority.