A Brighter Light into the Darkness: Identifying Human Rights Violations and Sources of Information in the DPRK in the Era of the UN Commission of Inquiry

Abstract

In March 2013, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) passed a resolution on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) without a vote that decided “to establish, for a period of one year, a commission of inquiry comprising three members, one of whom should be the Special Rapporteur, with the other two members appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council.”¹ The same resolution defined the mandate of the proposed commission of inquiry to “investigate the systematic, widespread and grave violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” which it then defined to include “the violation of the right to food, the violations associated with prison camps, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, violations of freedom of expression, violations of the right to life, violations of freedom of movement, and enforced disappearances, including in the form of abductions of nationals of other States, with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular where these violations may amount to crimes against humanity.”²

Former East Asia Researcher, Amnesty International, London.