Joint open letter concerning the UN General Assembly’s 2020 resolution on North Korean Human Rights
October 14, 2020
Josep Borrell Fontelles
High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy and Vice-President of the European Commission
European External Action Service
1046 Brussels, Belgium
Re: Joint open letter concerning the UN General Assembly’s 2020 resolution on North Korean Human Rights
Your Excellency,
We are writing on behalf of 37 non-governmental organizations, coalitions, and concerned individuals from 7 different countries worldwide to urge the European Union to make every effort to highlight the on-going systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations, including those that amount to crimes against humanity, and appropriate actions to be taken by the stakeholders in the annual resolution on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea that is expected to be adopted by the 75th UN General Assembly.
At the outset, we recognize the critical role played by the European Union and its Member States as the consistent champions of North Korean human rights at the UN, sponsoring the first resolutions adopted by the then-Commission on Human Rights in 2003 and by the General Assembly in 2005 as well as the subsequent resolutions that established the landmark UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on the situation of human rights in North Korea in 2013 and endorsed its findings and recommendations.
The COI concluded that the DPRK committed crimes against humanity—entailing summary executions, torture, systematic rape, forced abortions, infanticides, persecution, abductions and forced disappearances—against inmates of political prison camps (kwanliso); repatriated refugees and migrants; Christians; starving populations; and foreigners, namely South Korean and Japanese citizens and ethnic Korean from Japan as well as unknown number of women abducted from Europe, the Middle East and Asia subjected to forced marriage.
The unwavering support from the EU and its Member States for the Security Council to refer the situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court (ICC) was also critical in the Security Council’s annual discussion of the situation of human rights in North Korea in 2014-2017.
We believe it is now imperative for the EU, as the penholder of the General Assembly’s resolutions to send a clear message that the systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights, as identified by the COI, cannot continue.
In this time of COVID-19 pandemic, we must take increased devotion to the cause of universal human rights as they come under unprecedented challenges as governments resort to draconian measures often under the pretext of combating the pandemic.
We recently received the shocking news that North Korean troops held and executed a South Korean government official who had drifted into North Korean waters, and that his remains were burned at sea on September 22, 2020. Reportedly, all this was in accordance with Pyongyang’s shoot-to-kill order to prevent coronavirus from entering the country.
In this context, we urge the inclusion of following recommendations to North Korea in the draft resolution to be tabled by the EU and its Member States during the 75th session of the General Assembly:
- Political prisoners and the death penalty: Close all political prison camps (kwanliso) and release all political prisoners; respect the safeguards guaranteeing protection of the rights of those facing the death penalty, reduce the offenses punishable by the death penalty, publish detailed statistics and procedure regarding death sentence and executions, introduce a moratorium on executions with a view to abolition;
- Sexual violence: End the widespread prevalence of forced abortion upon pregnant mothers repatriated from China and infanticide of their children to preserve a “pure Korean race”; cease rape and denial of reproductive rights enforced through punishment, forced abortion and infanticide in political prison camps (kwanliso);
- Right to food: Promote equal access to and distribution of food without discrimination based on songbun, North Korea’s sociopolitical classification of its citizens, or privileging of Pyongyang residents, including through full transparency and independent needs assessment by international aid organizations, in particular for vulnerable persons, including women, children, persons with disabilities, older persons and individuals in detention;
- Liberty of movement: Ensure the freedom to leave one’s own country, including for the purpose of seeking asylum by ending the practice of shooting those who try to cross the border and sending agents to abduct the escapees and the foreign nationals who help them, and, urge states to comply with their obligations to observe the principle of non-refoulement under the Refugee Convention and Torture Convention;
- International abductions: Return the foreign abductees, namely the nationals of South Korea and Japan and ethnic Koreans from Japan since the Korean War, including the at least six South Korean citizens that continue to be detained and the eleven hostages of the Korean Air YS-11 hijacking terror, as well as unknown number of women abducted from Europe, the Middle East and Asia for forced marriage; and
- COVID-19 pandemic: Respect and ensure the right to life, liberty and security of person, the right not to be subjected to enforced disappearance, torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and other fundamental rights and freedoms of North Korean and foreign citizens at all time in fighting the pandemic
We further request the resolution to call upon states to observe the principle of non-refoulement vis-à-vis North Korea especially for the protection of the right not to be subjected to torture, enforced disappearance and arbitrary deprivation of life, liberty and security of person; to investigate and prosecute persons suspected of committing international crimes in North Korea under the principle of aut dedere aut judicare; to request the High Commissioner to increase the visibility of the work and findings by the OHCHR, including its field-based structure in Seoul, by hiring public relations officer(s); and to encourage the United Nations to facilitate standardization in documentation and access to open sources.
In the upcoming resolution of the General Assembly, the EU has an historic opportunity and responsibility to uphold the human rights of the North Korean people. We need not reiterate that the North Korean people are entitled to the indivisible, universal values of human dignity, freedom, equality and solidarity, upon which the EU is founded, according to its Charter of Fundamental Right.
Thank you for your consideration. We would be pleased to discuss these matters further with your staff.
Sincerely,
Groups
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1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association |
South Korea |
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Arakan Rohingya National Organisation (ARNO) |
United Kingdom |
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BALAOD Mindanaw |
Philippines |
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Beyond the Boundary |
South Korea |
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Christian Solidarity Worldwide |
United Kingdom |
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Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) |
South Korea |
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Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK) |
United States of America |
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Human Asia |
South Korea |
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Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) |
United States of America |
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Human Rights Foundation |
United States of America |
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Improving North Korean Human Rights Center |
South Korea |
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Institute for Transitional Justice and Integration (ITJI) |
South Korea |
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International Child Rights Center (InCRC) |
South Korea |
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Justice For North Korea |
South Korea |
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Korea Future Initiative |
United Kingdom |
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Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU) |
South Korea |
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Korean War POW Family Association |
South Korea |
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Lawyers for human rights and unification of Korea |
South Korea |
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Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) |
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LUMEN |
United States of America |
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Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights |
South Korea |
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No Chain for North Korea |
United States of America |
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North Korea Strategy Center |
South Korea |
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Now Action & Unity for Human Rights (NAUH) |
South Korea |
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Open North Korea |
South Korea |
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People for Successful Corean Reunification (PSCORE) |
South Korea |
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Rohingya Human Rights Network |
Canada |
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Stepping Stones |
United Kingdom |
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The 88 Project |
United States of America |
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Transitional Justice Working Group |
South Korea |
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Unification Academy |
South Korea |
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Unification Media Group |
South Korea |
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Unification Strategy Institution |
South Korea |
Individuals
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David Alton, Lord |
Independent Crossbench Member of the House of Lords & Co-chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on North Korea |
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Sonja Biserko |
Former Commission of Inquiry (COI) member on the situation of human rights in the DPRK & current chair at the Helsinki Human Rights Committee in Serbia |
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Yanghee Lee, Ph.D. |
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar / Former Chairperson of UN Committee on the Rights of the Child |
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Vitit Muntarbhorn |
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK |