{"id":31805,"date":"2018-05-02T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-05-01T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/csw-yeo.1wp.site\/magazines\/movies-markets-and-mass-surveillance-3947\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T21:21:20","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T20:21:20","slug":"movies-markets-and-mass-surveillance-3947","status":"publish","type":"magazines","link":"https:\/\/www.csw.org.uk\/zh\/magazines\/movies-markets-and-mass-surveillance-3947\/","title":{"rendered":"Movies, Markets and Mass Surveillance"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\u201cWhen it comes to religion, North Korean people shudder because the punishments are so severe.\u201d<\/b><\/i><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was the response from one person CSW interviewed as part of a new report on the human rights situation in North Korea. It is a country which the UN Human Rights Council concluded was \u2018a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world\u2019 when it came to the \u2018gravity, scale and nature\u2019 of the violations of human rights in North Korea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Based on research that included a survey of more than 100 respondents, ranging from recent North Korean escapees and UN officials to human rights experts, the new CSW report has found that in the past decade, \u2018although the regime has not changed, the people have.\u2019 There are signs of change in the economy and flow of information that has meant some North Korean citizens are living very different lives, although still under the world\u2019s most repressive regime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our researchers found that as a result of these changes, the motivation for defection has changed. One escapee told CSW, \u201cIn the beginning, people defected because they were starving. But it is different now. [Now] more and more people want freedom, opportunities and hope.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the areas of economy, information, criticism, and human rights awareness, those surveyed for the report provided a general suggestion of change of some kind over the past ten years. A notable exception to this trend was the subject of religion. Interviewees consistently reported that there was no religious freedom, and only 6% of survey respondents felt that there was more freedom for religious believers in 2017 compared to 2007.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But however encouraging the signs of change, it\u2019s important that they are not over-stated. North Korea remains among the very worst abusers of human rights in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, how do we respond to the findings?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We should be encouraged that international advocacy can make a difference. It is slow and pain-staking without doubt; it entails tiny steps forward accompanied by frustrations and tragedy of course \u2013 but the regime is not as immune to outside pressure as we may once have feared.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We must continue making a noise about North Korea\u2019s crimes against humanity. We must learn from the changes we\u2019ve seen in the past decade, and support North Korea\u2019s people to bring more substantial, meaningful and genuine change. And we must seek bold and creative ways to ensure that human rights violations end, the regime is held accountable for its barbaric crimes, and the flickers of hope are fanned into a bright light that opens this closed country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n