Introduction

1. CSW is a human rights organisation specialising in the right to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB). This submission seeks to draw attention to the situation of human rights, and particularly the right to FoRB, in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) ahead of the state’s fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR).

2. Throughout the reporting period, the human rights situation has remained dire, with widespread systematic violations taking place daily, including torture, sexual violence, forced labour, public executions, arbitrary detention and mass arrests.

3. The closed nature of the DPRK presents challenges for documenting the human rights situation. However, significant evidence has been obtained throughout the reporting period from defectors, many of whom are survivors of the state’s brutal prison camps (kwan-li-so). Their testimonies confirm the state’s continuing failure to uphold human rights, with the situation worsening in many instances.

Legal framework

4. Amendments to the Constitution in 1972 essentially collectivised basic rights for citizens. By the 1990s, the DPRK began using the term ‘our own style of human rights’ to undermine the universality of human rights.

5. The period 2003-2010 saw the inclusion of human rights clauses in the Constitution, along with  legislation including the Disabled People Protection Act (2003), the Elderly Care Protection Act (2007), the Social Security Act (2008), the Children’s Rights Act (2010) and the Women’s Rights Act (2010).2 However, since 2010 the DPRK has shown a complete disregard for these provisions, despite accepting several recommendations during the third cycle to ensure domestic legislation aligns with international human rights standards. Changes in criminal law in the DPRK have only served to further exacerbate the country’s failure to uphold its commitments and comply with international standards, with regressive policies allowing for a broader application of the death penalty (2007), harsher punishment for defectors (2009) and, increased sentences for possession of foreign or ‘decadent’ material (2015).

6. The DPRK repeatedly contravenes international human rights treaties, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) to which it is party. Furthermore, the State has not ratified other key treaties, such as the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) and the Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance (CED). The State has yet to ratify the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC). 

To read the submission in full, you can download the pdf here.