The Rights Office, OHCHR, interviewed 314 witnesses who left the RPDC, more commonly known as North Korea, and consulted with several organizations and experts to evaluate the human rights conditions there since 2014.
The situation has not improved, and in many cases it has worsened, “bringing even more suffering to the population,” said spokeswoman Liz Thossell, informing journalists in Geneva.
James Heenan, head of the office who works at the RPDC, highlighted the seriousness of human rights violations, where even a minor crime can result in a punishment.
Killed by sharing online programs
“We have credible evidence that individuals have been executed, not only to see K-Damas. The crime is for distributed At a certain level, foreign information, foreign media, ”he said.
The report found that new laws, policies and practices have led to greater surveillance and control over citizens, some of which have ended in forced labor fields, as political prisoners.
Working in ‘Shock Brigades’
According to reports, in a forced form of “shock brigades”, the authorities in Pyongyang have used thousands of orphans and street children to work in coal mines and other environments, exposing them to hazardous materials and long hours of work, the UN report said.
Mr. Heenan also added that children at school are also alone to do a “backward” work with crops and, although they were supposed to be in class.
“The government says that this is a kind of curriculum to help them learn life skills. But the information we have had for many years is that it is that meets the qualification of forced labor because children have no choice“, Said.
The physically demanding and dangerous work of the brigades is also carried out by people in the military or penitentiary system, as well as by workers of mainly poor families who wish to become members of the party or improve their social status.
According to reports, deaths are frequent in these conditions, but instead of increasing security measures, the RPDC publicly glorifies deaths as a sacrifice for the leader, according to the report.
The death penalty widely used
According to the reports, in 2014 and 2015, many senior officials were executed by “antiestatal acts,” says the report.
While this trend later decreased, the escapes said that from 2020, the execution has been used for the distribution of unauthorized media, drugs and economic crimes, prostitution, pornography, traffic and murder.
Since 2015, there have been six new laws that allow the use of the death penalty for crimes, such as an “anti-state” propaganda vaguely defined.
The interviewees said they also witnessed public executions during the last decade. The report explains that the Government has organized public trials and executions to instill fear in the population and as a deterrent.
“To block people’s eyes and ears, they strengthened repressions,” said one of the witnesses to Ohchr.
There is not enough progress
The escapes expressed that some improvements had been made in the treatment of people in the detention centers. North Korea has also ratified two more human rights treaties, but the report finally concludes that it is far from fulfilling its obligations according to international law.
RPDC remains more isolated than any other nation, which increases the difficulty of monitoring and implementing fair human rights standards.
“What we have witnessed is a lost decade“Said UN Human Rights Chief Volker Türk.” And it hurts to say that if the RPDK continues in its current career, the population will be subject to more of suffering, the brutal repression and fear that they have suffered for so long. “