{"id":28765,"date":"2017-03-09T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2017-03-09T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/press\/north-korea-icnk-backs-new-un-reports-3478\/"},"modified":"2026-09-23T18:43:21","modified_gmt":"2026-09-23T17:43:21","slug":"north-korea-icnk-backs-new-un-reports-3478","status":"publish","type":"press","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/press\/north-korea-icnk-backs-new-un-reports-3478\/","title":{"rendered":"North Korea: ICNK backs new UN reports"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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(Seoul \u2013 March 7, 2017) — The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in<\/strong> North Korea (ICNK<\/u><\/a>), an alliance of human rights groups from around the world including Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW),<\/span> announced on 7 March its support for two new UN reports calling for the international community to hold the North Korean government accountable for crimes against humanity.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Group of Independent Experts on Accountability, appointed by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights at the request of the UN Human Rights Council last year with a specific mandate to explore approaches to accountability, asserted that \u201cinvestigation and prosecution of serious crimes is critical.”<\/u><\/a> They called for \u201cmeasures to ensure the right of victims to reparations, the right of victims and society to know the truth about violations, and guarantees of non-recurrence of violations.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe North Korea government and its leaders should face justice for their crimes against humanity, which continue to this day,\u201d<\/strong> said Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. \u201cWe urge the United Nations Human Rights Council to respond positively to the Special Rapporteur\u2019s call that the recommendations of the group of independent experts be implemented without delay.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The independent experts stressed the need to consider creating an ad hoc international tribunal even with a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC provides an important way to hold accountable those most responsible for gross rights abuses, but given the pervasive impunity in the DPRK, the experts argued the prosecution of some high-level perpetrators at the ICC should be complemented by other criminal accountability processes. \u201cA dedicated international tribunal for the DPRK would allow the temporal, territorial, personal and subject-matter jurisdiction to be calibrated to meet the needs and aspirations of the victims,\u201d<\/strong> the experts argued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The independent experts, Sonja Biserko, a Serbian human rights activist who served on the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights in North Korea, and Sara Hossain, a lawyer in the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, contended that \u201cgiven the severity and complexity of the human rights situation in the DPRK, a comprehensive and multi-pronged approach is required to addressing violations.\u201d<\/strong>They also make concrete recommendations to the Human Rights Council, to strengthen the OHCHR field office in Seoul with additional resources to \u201creceive, preserve and consolidate information and evidence pertaining to the human rights situation in the DPRK, through a central and independent repository, for use in any future accountability mechanism.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe two independent experts deserve backing for their hard work and strong recommendations for achieving accountability for human rights violations in North Korea,\u201d<\/strong> said Eunkyoung Kwon, Secretary-General of the ICNK. \u201cMember states of the Human Rights Council should now step up to provide support and provide resources to the OHCHR Seoul office to support initiatives on extending research and ensuring effective analysis for holding perpetrators accountable.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a separate report<\/u><\/a>, the new UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK, Tomas Ojea Quintana, emphasized that \u201caddressing human rights violations, particularly allegations of crimes against humanity, requires that perpetrators be held accountable.\u201d<\/strong>He called for a \u201ctwo-track strategy\u201d of engagement with the DPRK on human rights where possible, and the pursuit of accountability. \u201cThese two tracks are mutually reinforcing, and a dual approach is necessary to produce tangible and sustainable improvement in the situation of human rights.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Special Rapporteur endorsed the group of independent experts\u2019 recommendations and urged \u201call relevant stakeholders\u201d to act and \u201cto ensure that serious human rights violations, especially those amounting to crimes against humanity, do not go unpunished.\u201d<\/strong>He called on the Human Rights Council to implement the recommendations of the group of independent experts \u201cwithout delay, ensuring that perpetrators of gross violations are held responsible and supporting all victims in their quest for truth and justice.\u201d<\/strong>He further urged the United Nations \u201cas a whole\u201d to address \u201cthe grave human rights situation in the [DPRK] in a coordinated and unified manner.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSix years ago we joined together with over 40 other human rights organizations to establish the ICNK with the specific purpose of seeking accountability and justice for crimes against humanity in North Korea,\u201d<\/strong> said Benedict Rogers, East Asia Team Leader at Christian Solidarity Worldwide. \u201cThe UN Commission of Inquiry and its report were a landmark step on the path to accountability. The time to end the culture of impunity surrounding North Korea\u2019s crimes against humanity is long overdue.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For more information:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Bangkok, Phil Robertson, Deputy Asia Director, Human Rights Watch<\/u><\/a>, tel: +66-85-060-8406, email: RobertP@hrw.org<\/span>, follow on Twitter @Reaproy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Seoul, Eunkyoung Kwon, Secretary-General, ICNK<\/u><\/a>, tel: +82-10-4508-8815, email: kekyoung@gmail.com<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In London, Ben Rogers, East Asia Team Leader, Christian Solidarity Worldwide<\/u><\/a>, tel: +44-7823-329664, email: ben@csw.org.uk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Notes to Editors:<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/u><\/a> for the latest report by the UN Group of Independent Experts on Accountability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Click here<\/u><\/a> for the latest report by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the DPRK.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK), an alliance of human rights groups from around the world including Christian Solidarity<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":42905,"template":"","categories":[],"regions":[128,135],"class_list":["post-28765","press","type-press","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","regions-east-asia","regions-north-korea"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28765","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/press"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39351,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/press\/28765\/revisions\/39351"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42905"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=28765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=28765"},{"taxonomy":"regions","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/regions?post=28765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}