hankyoreh

Fabian Omar Salvioli

Fabian Omar Salvioli, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence, sent the message that hate speech toward victims of state violence should be prohibited by any means necessary.

His remarks, made in an exclusive interview with the Hankyoreh during a visit to South Korea, come at a time when Liberty Korea Party (LKP) lawmaker and far right-wing commentators have been making remarks denying historical events – including calls to “disclose a list of persons of merit from the May 18 Democratization Movement [in 1980]” – and engaging in related hate speech.

Salvioli paid an unofficial three-day visit to South Korea form Mar. 19 to 21 to attend a conference at Jeju’s KAL Hotel on “reckoning with South Korea’s past from the standpoint of international human rights” and hold a discussion with victims of state violence at the Seoul offices of the Center for Historical Truth and Justice (CHTJ). The role of a special rapporteur is to investigate and monitor human rights by country and topic and submit an annual report with related recommendations to the UN Human Right Council. This marks the first time a UN Special Rapporteur dealing with issues of history has visited South Korea in person.

Meeting with the Hankyoreh at the CHTJ offices in Seoul’s Yongsan district on Mar. 20, Salvioli stressed the message that hate speech toward victims of state violence and remarks denying historical facts should be banned.

“According to the agreement on civil liberties, states have an obligation to prevent hate speech,” he noted.

“When hate speech is being expressed, it’s the government’s role to respond immediately and take suitable measures,” he said.

When asked about the hate speech toward victims of the May 1980 Democratization Movement and remarks denying historical facts from South Korean politicians, a skeptical Salvioli asked, “Does South Korea not have rules regulating hate speech?”

“Whether it’s by civil or criminal law, there needs to be at least one way of prohibiting remarks like that,” he said.

During the Mar. 19 conference, Salvioli fielded a participant’s question asking for his views on remarks by South Korean politicians claiming that public opinion had become divided as a result of the Special Investigation Committee of Antinational Activists.

“Politicians have freedom of expression too, so you can’t prevent that, but the state needs to respond immediately,” he said at the time.

Salvioli warned that hate speech can inflict renewed damage to victims of state violence. “The negative influence [of historical denialism and hate speech] is quite apparent,” he said. “Hateful remarks can cause quite terrible effects in and of themselves.” He went on to say that hate speech directed at victims of state violence “can create a society that takes a hostile view toward victims, and the victims can experience additional damage as a result.”

“South Korea’s civic and social groups should focus on helping get issues related to hate speech [in South Korea] addressed by the UN Human Rights Committee by submitting a report on the situation before the committee convenes early next year,” he advised.

Indeed, several civic and social groups – including MINBYUN-Lawyers for a Democratic Society, People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy, and the Truth Foundation – plan to submit an inquiry report to UNHRC sometime around May. If an inquiry report is submitted by civil society ahead of a committee meeting, the UNHRC will reflect its content in its questioning of the South Korean government.

Between 2009 and 2016, Salvioli was a member of the UNHRC, which issues comments and quasi-judicial decisions concerning matters of freedom of expression and human rights violations. From 2015 to 2016, he served as the committee’s president.

During a Mar. 19 conference and talk with reporters, Salvioli stressed that the state must fulfill its responsibility for investigations, justice and compensation in connection with historical incidents.

“Under international law, the state has an obligation to apply investigations, justice, and compensation to victims – these are things they must provide, not things they can optionally provide,” he told reporters.

In his keynote speech at the conference, he said, “Investigations, prevention of recurrence, compensation, justice and remembrance for victims of history must take place in an integrated way.”

“Government authorities should not succumb to the misapprehension that they do not need measures in the other areas once they have taken action in one of them,” he added.

He also warned that the “past will continue returning to us here today if we do not reckon with it properly.”

By Kim Min-je, staff reporter

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