Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center: Childcare Director's Insulting Remarks, Disclosure of Resignation Letter Constitute Human Rights Violation

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] The Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center has ruled that a state-run childcare facility director's actions—including making insulting remarks to a specific childcare teacher in public, disclosing the contents of the resignation letter, and pointing out the teacher's negligence—constitute human rights violations.

The Human Rights Center recommended human rights education for the childcare director and expressed its opinion that the relevant local government head should establish measures to prevent recurrence of similar cases.

According to the provincial Human Rights Center on the 3rd, A, who worked as a childcare teacher at a state-run childcare facility in the province, filed a remedy application with the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center in May after experiencing feelings of humiliation. The teacher reported receiving insulting remarks from the director during the resignation submission process and having the contents of the resignation letter and a video showing negligence disclosed and criticized in front of all assembled teachers.

The director countered that the contents of the resignation letter claimed by A were false, necessitating consultation with other teachers' opinions, and that the video was disclosed to all staff because it was related to child safety, asserting this was done with A's consent.

The Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center conducted investigations into A, the director, and other teachers, and held a Human Rights Protector meeting on the 28th, ultimately determining the case constituted a violation of the right to human dignity guaranteed by Article 10 of the Constitution of the Republic of Korea.

In particular, the center found that statements made repeatedly by the director in the office in the presence of other staff—such as "Aren't you ashamed and embarrassed in front of young teachers and children like your own," and "Because of you, we're going through this like beggars. We're hitting rock bottom. … Because of you, the entire childcare facility staff atmosphere has turned into a mess"—were content that would diminish the social evaluation of the applicant's personal worth even by standards of societal norms.

The center also determined that disclosing the resignation letter contents and video to all teachers, despite the fact that these matters could have been addressed by direct confirmation with the relevant person or by issuing a caution, would instill a sense of humiliation in A by any reasonable standards and common sense of the general public.

A Human Rights Center official stated, "The Human Rights Protector's decision is meaningful in drawing attention to the fact that making insulting remarks at a childcare facility and publicly disclosing a childcare teacher's negligence to all teachers constitute human rights violations," and added, "We plan to actively monitor to ensure the protection of human rights of teachers and children working and enrolled at childcare facilities in the province."

Any person can file a counseling or remedy application with the Gyeonggi Province Human Rights Center for human rights violations and discrimination cases occurring at the province and its affiliated administrative agencies, provincial funded organizations, commission-operated agencies, organizations receiving provincial support, and various social welfare facilities. Third-party applications from persons other than the victim are also possible (031-8008-2340, website: www.gg.go.kr/humanrights).