In depth: North Korea and the UN

It’s been a busy time for our East Asia Team over the last few months.

In between travelling to the region and doing public speaking engagements, they’ve been busy working on the next phase of our work for religious freedom in North Korea. Here’s an insight into what they’ve been up to and what’s next!

In between travelling to the region and doing public speaking engagements, they’ve been busy working on the next phase of our work for religious freedom in North Korea. Here’s an insight into what they’ve been up to and what’s next!

What’s the latest news from the United Nations on their efforts to hold North Korea to account for their poor human rights record?

As you may remember, the UN Commission of Inquiry released their report and recommendations last year. They concluded that the North Korean regime is committing crimes against humanity and urged the UN Security Council to push forward a referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC). The Security Council had their first ever formal discussion of North Korean human rights just before Christmas, and it’s now officially on their agenda. Since then we’ve also seen the General Assembly pass a resolution calling for a referral to the ICC.

So what’s the next step?

Well, ultimately, working towards the UN Security Council approving a formal referral to be made to the ICC. But unfortunately this isn’t something that can happen overnight, and we need to build political support within the UN for this to happen. We spent more than seven years campaigning for a Commission of Inquiry to be established – it was the fruit of a long period of campaigning, advocacy and prayer. So now we’re moving into the next stage of lobbying and building support that will ultimately lead to the ICC referral we want to see.

But will we see any concrete action from the UN before then?

Absolutely! The Commission of Inquiry and Special Rapporteur on North Korea both made other recommendations alongside the ICC referral recommendation. Just last month the UN opened an office in South Korea which will focus on the human rights situation in North Korea. The aim is that this field office will strengthen monitoring and documentation of the human rights situation.

What is CSW doing to keep up the pressure on North Korea?

We’ve carried on working with other organisations, taking a leading role in the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea to develop the next stage of our campaign. We’ll be using all the advocacy routes open to us to build support for an ICC referral, meeting representatives from governments around the world who can help us keep North Korea’s human rights situation in the spotlight.

Can you give us a sneak preview of what’s coming up in CSW’s work on North Korea?

As well as our day-to-day advocacy, we’ve embarked on a major research project to put together a comprehensive and up-to-date picture of the religious freedom situation in North Korea. We’re also working towards a substantial report for release in 2017, ten years on from the launch of North Korea: A Case to Answer, A Call to Act. We’ll use both of these projects to keep on raising awareness of the human rights abuses being committed daily. Each action we take will bring us closer to our vision of a free North Korea!