The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) judged that the blanket collection of attendees' mobile phones by the school violence countermeasure deliberation committee to prevent leaks of meeting contents is a violation of basic rights.
According to the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) on the 21st, the petitioner attended a school violence committee meeting at an education support office with their child. Before entering the deliberation room, the deliberation officer collected the mobile phone from the petitioner in the waiting room without prior explanation or consent. The petitioner filed a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC), arguing that collecting only the phones of those subject to deliberation while not collecting the phones of the school violence committee Commissioners constitutes a human rights violation.
The education support office explained that, based on the non-disclosure principle of the school violence committee, it was an unavoidable measure to prevent external leaks through recording or filming of the meeting contents. It also said that because the school violence committee Commissioners sign security pledges upon appointment and are subject to penalty provisions if they violate them, treating them differently from general attendees is reasonable.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) Committee on the Rights of the Child recognized the intent to prevent sensitive information exchanged during the school violence committee's deliberation process from being leaked externally. However, it viewed that methods such as clearly notifying attendees that recording and filming of the meeting contents are legally prohibited and informing them of disadvantages for violations, or obtaining non-disclosure agreements, could have been used. As a result, the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) concluded that the education support office infringed on the petitioner's general freedom of action and freedom of communication.
The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) recommended establishing grounds and standards that include methods to minimize infringements of basic rights—such as specifying the purpose and scope of collection and granting a choice of collection methods—when collecting mobile phones, and the education support office agreed to accept the recommendation.