A/HRC/22/57
105. However, the threat of punishment facing the repatriated citizens is ever-present. In
March 2008, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
together with the special Rapporteur on the right to food and the Special Rapporteur on the
question of torture, sent a joint allegation letter regarding information received on the
alleged public execution of 13 women and 2 men, who were reportedly accused of planning
to cross over to a neighbouring country. It was alleged that this execution was designed to
dissuade people from crossing illegally. The Government did not reply to this
communication.130
106. In each of his reports to the General Assembly the Secretary-General notes the
concerns of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) relating to the
flow of Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea nationals seeking protection, including
reports that women are being subjected to human trafficking and forced marriages and in
some instances children born in such conditions have been deprived of the care of their
mothers.131
Recommendations on freedom of movement
107. Since 2005, the Special Rapporteur has called upon the Government to address the
root causes of displacement, prevent persecution and victimization of those who are
displaced, including when they return to their country of origin, and guarantee the right to
freedom of movement without imposing sanctions on those who move without
permission.132
108. The General Assembly called upon the Government to ensure that citizens of the
Democratic People‟s Republic of Korea expelled or returned to the Democratic People‟s
Republic of Korea are able to “return in safety and dignity, are humanely treated and are
not subjected to any kind of punishment.” 133
109. As the Special Rapporteur underlined in 2007, “the preferred position is that those
who left the country in search of refuge elsewhere should not be punished at all for having
left the country without an exit visa. This would also help to fulfil the spirit of the country‟s
1998 Constitution whose article 75 states that “citizens shall have freedom of residence and
travel.”134
I.
Enforced disappearances, including abduction of foreign nationals
110. The United Nations, through many of its human rights mechanisms, has consistently
documented and decried the crime of enforced disappearances in the Democratic People‟s
Republic of Korea. Reports by the Secretary-General and the Special Rapporteur highlight
the presence of long-existing cases of enforced disappearances, particularly in the form of
abduction of foreign nationals, dating back to the Korean War. Since 2003, the Commission
on Human Rights, followed by the Human Rights Council have repeatedly noted the
existence and unresolved nature of the abduction of foreign nationals in each of their
resolutions concerning North Korea. In a comprehensive list of widespread, systematic and
grave human rights violations, the General Assembly‟s first resolution on North Korea in
December 2005 (and those that followed) expressed its concern at the “unresolved
130
131
132
133
134
32
A/HRC/WG.6/6/PRK/2, para 20
A/67/362; A/66/343; A/65/391
See for example A/60/306.
A/RES/63/190; A/RES/64/175; A/RES/66/174
A/HRC/4/15, para 22
Select target paragraph3
Connect to a paragraph
Connect to an entity
Disable highlights
Add to table of contents