Why should you care?

North Korean human rights issues are complicated to resolve. It has not been solved in over the past 50 years. Some attempts have been made in the past. The 2014 COI report recommended the UN Security Council refer the situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court. In August 2023, the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights restated this recommendation to the UN Security Council, noting its ongoing documentation of crimes and abuses, including crimes against humanity against people held in long-term prison camps (kyohwaso) and short-term detention facilities. The UN Security Council held an Arria-formula meeting on human rights issues in March 2023 and a formal debate in August, its first discussions in North Korea since 2017. (The council regularly debates and passes resolutions to address North Korea’s weapons proliferation activities.) 

However, opposition from China and Russia has made the council unable to adopt any resolution to address the situation. The council’s separate debates on weapons proliferation in March, May, and June featured minimal discussion of human rights issues.

Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director at an International Dialogue on North Korean Human Rights, addresses why the North Korean human rights issue is crucial. He says we must compete against other significant global human rights crises. This does not discount the importance of attending to other human rights crises. The North Korean human rights crisis—in particular, the North Korean refugee crisis—is a slow-motion crisis. There is somehow the impression that this is not as serious as the other terrible things happening in the world. This is where the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and civil society organizations (CSOs) is crucial.

There can be no peace without human rights. We must remind everyone that there is no peace devoid of human rights. If global citizens want peace and prevent any future threat to their peace, they should be engaged with this human rights issue. 

Hosaniak, the Deputy Director-General Citizens’ Alliance for North Korean Human Rights, asserted that crimes against humanity do not qualify as "any other business." They are much graver than just that. It is not an issue that states can measure the pros and cons they can get out of the engagement. It is about saving one more person’s life before it is too late.

Source:

Committee for Human Rights in North Korea. “Up Front: The Role of Civil Society in North Korean Human Rights.” HRNK Insider, Committee of Human Rights in North Korea, www.hrnkinsider.org/2022/12/up-front-role-of-civil-society-in-north.html. Accessed 28 Apr. 2024.