The Situation of Detainees in Gulag System (Kwan-li-so) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Petition for Relief Submitted To: UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial, Summary, or Arbitrary Execution UN Special Rapporteur on Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or Punishment UN Special Rapporteur Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression UN Special Rapporteur on Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief UN Special Rapporteur on Independence of Judges and Lawyers UN Special Rapporteur on Right of Everyone to Highest Attainable Standard of Physical or Mental Health Submitted By: Jared Genser1 and Chris Fletcher Perseus Strategies, LLC (www.perseus-strategies.com) Kristen Leanderson Abrams, Julie Ben-Zev, Katie Jahnke Dale, and Jeffrey Kahntroff New Perimeter (www.newperimeter.com) Counsel to 2 April 3, 2012 1 For further information, contact Jared Genser at [email protected] or +1 (202) 320-4135. Perseus Strategies would also like to thank Jung Hwa Song for her research support. All work on this report has been performed on a pro bono (unpaid) basis. 2 Members of the Coalition include: Advocates International Global Council, Asia Justice and Rights, Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances, Asian Human Rights & Humanity Association of Japan, Burma Partnership (Thailand), Christian Lawyers Association for Paraguay, Christian Solidarity Worldwide, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (USA), Conectas (Brazil), Council for Human Rights in North Korea (Canada), Freedom House (USA), Free NK Gulag (ROK), Free North Korea Radio (ROK), Han Voice (Canada), HH Katacombs (ROK), Human Rights Watch, Human Rights Without Frontiers (Belgium), Inter-American Federation of Christian Lawyers, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), COMJAN (Investigation Commission on Missing Japanese Probably Related to North Korea) (Japan), Japanese Lawyers Association for Abduction and Other Human Rights Issues in North Korea, Jubilee Campaign (USA), Justice for North Korea (ROK), Kontras (Indonesia), Liberty in North Korea - LiNK (USA), Life Funds for North Korean Refugees (Japan), Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (ROK), NK Intellectual Solidarity (ROK), No Fence (Japan), North Korea Freedom Coalition, Odhikar (Bangladesh), Open North Korea (ROK), People In Need (Czech Republic), PSALT NK (Prayer Service Action Love Truth for North Korea), The Simon Wiesenthal Center (USA), The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea (Japan), Students Alliance for Human Rights in North Korea (ROK), Young Defectors' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights(ROK), Yuki Akimoto, Burmainfo (Japan), Tomoharu Ebihara, David Hawk, Visiting Scholar, Columbia University, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and author of Hidden Gulag, Ken Kato, Director, Human Rights in Asia (Japan), Tomoyuki Kawazoe, Representative, Kanagawa Association for The Rescue of Japanese Kidnapped by North Korea/ Member, Reporters Without Borders, Suzanne Scholte, Seoul Peace Prize Recipient & Defense Forum Foundation (USA), and Dr. Norbert Vollertsen. 1 Table of Contents Executive Summary ........................................................................................................................ 3 I. Precedent for Investigation by Special Procedures of UN Human Rights Council ................ 7 II. UN Response to Gulag System in DPRK ............................................................................... 8 A. United Nations Organs and Subsidiary Bodies ................................................................... 8 1. General Assembly ........................................................................................................... 8 2. Commission on Human Rights ....................................................................................... 9 3. Human Rights Council .................................................................................................. 10 4. Special Rapporteur ........................................................................................................ 13 B. Human Rights Treaty Bodies ............................................................................................ 17 1. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ................................................... 18 2. Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women ....... 19 3. Convention on the Rights of the Child ......................................................................... 19 4. International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights .............................. 20 III. Life in the North Korean Gulag ............................................................................................ 21 A. Atrocities of the Gulag System ......................................................................................... 21 1. Camp Conditions: Labor, Malnutrition, and Lack of Health Care ............................... 22 2. Punishment, Torture, and Executions ........................................................................... 23 3. Forced Abortions and Infanticide ................................................................................. 24 B. Violations of International Law Implicated by Gulag System ......................................... 25 1. Crimes Against Humanity ............................................................................................. 25 2. Violations of Treaties to Which the DPRK is a Party .................................................. 30 IV. Conclusion and Recommendations ................................................................................... 33 2 Executive Summary On December 19, 2011, state-run television in the Democratic People’s Republic of North Korea (DPRK) announced the death of its leader Kim Jong-il. His youngest son, Kim Jong-eun, immediately assumed power. It has been an important time of transition in the DPRK, but it remains unclear whether this will have an appreciable effect on the people of the country or on how the country engages with the international community. On February 29, 2012, the United States and DPRK announced a deal under which North Korea had agreed to stop nuclear tests, uranium enrichment, long-range missile launches, and to allow checks by nuclear inspectors in exchange for 240,000 tons of food. But a short-time later, Pyongyang announced it intended to launch a satellite into orbit, which would be in violation of Security Council Resolution 1874, which prohibits the DPRK from conducting any launch using ballistic missile technology. Once again, the world has focused intensely on a provocative act by the DPRK and is seeking to defuse rising tensions on the Korean peninsula. But as has often been the case, what gets lost in these debates is the ongoing and profound suffering of the North Korean people. The global movement pressing for human rights and humanitarian improvements in the DPRK has made important strides in the last decade, but the impact of this work has been highly limited relative to the size of the challenge. Specifically, the United Nations, governments, and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), have been unable to do much more than provide detailed reporting on the abuses, and, on a limited basis, respond to immediate humanitarian needs of those who escape from DPRK and provide targeted relief inside the country. Even with such efforts, there has been no appreciable impact on the DPRK’s leadership, governmental structure, or policies. Some of the most horrific abuses committed against the people by the DPRK government officials have been through its operation of a gulag system (kwan-li-so), which is estimated to imprison some 150,000-200,000 persons in six massive camps in the country. It is also estimated that more than 400,000 prisoners have died in these camps over the past few decades. These atrocities have been documented by various organs of the United Nations and reputable NGOs over many years – and have been flatly denied by DPRK government officials. Nevertheless, the ongoing operation of this system constitutes crimes against humanity under international law. The prisoners in the gulag system are mainly real or alleged political dissenters – persons who have committed or are perceived to have committed a political crime. A wide range of activities are considered political crimes, including: expressing anti-socialist sentiment, having “unsound ideology,” criticizing the regime in any manner, reading a foreign newspaper, expressing exasperation with the difficulty of life in North Korea, and practicing any religion inconsistent with the state’s self-reliance juche ideology. The accused is neither given a factual basis for his crime nor provided counsel or a formal trial through the judicial system. Instead, the accused is kidnapped, placed in an interrogation facility, and typically tortured until a confession is elicited. When the accused is declared guilty, he or she is either immediately executed or sent to the gulag. Perhaps most shocking, under North Korea’s guilt-by-association 3 system initiated by Kim Il-sung, three generations of the accused’s