A/HRC/22/57 Annexes Annex I [English only] Analysis of patterns of human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, documented by the United Nations through its reports and resolutions since 2004 A. Violation of the right to food 1. The right to food in the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea is the human rights issue that has been extensively documented by the United Nations. The question of access to food, food distribution and humanitarian food assistance is dealt with in all resolutions of the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly and all reports by the Special Rapporteur and the Secretary-General. 2. The Secretary-General has consistently highlighted his particular concern about the severity of the food situation the country is facing and its impact on the economic, social and cultural rights of the population. 1 A number of actors within the United Nations system have highlighted that even if the food shortage was caused by natural disasters, the root causes are due to the mismanagement on the part of the authorities. The Special Rapporteur noted, “Even where there are natural disasters afflicting the general population, the root causes are often man-made, and it is the regime in power which shares responsibility for this.”2 The Human Rights Council has expressed deep concern “at the continuing reports of systematic, widespread and grave violations of…economic, social and cultural rights in the Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea.”3 3. The Special Rapporteur stressed that the issue is not simply lack of food for the population, but rather the manipulative control of food distribution by the regime. He noted, “The authorities seek to control the food distribution process as a means of controlling the population and making them dependent on the regime.” 4 4. In 2002, the Government took various measures to open the door to quasi-market activities (the new Economics Management Improvement Measures Policy), thus enabling the population to engage in the market system at a limited level, to produce, buy and sell their goods. The public distribution system (PDS) was seen as non-functional, and people were given additional wages to fend for themselves. In 2005, for fear of losing their grip on the population, the authorities started to impose the PDS again on the population and to prohibit market activities, despite the fact that the system was unable to respond effectively to the needs of the population.5 1 2 3 4 5 A/63/332, para 6 A/64/224, para 66 A/HRC/RES/7/15 A/64/224, para 66 A/64/224, para 16 13