National Human Rights Commission of Korea announces its statement in regards to the suicide of five family members of North Korean defectors who were arrested by Chinese police and forced to be repatriated to North Korea and the claim of the government of China to continue to not acknowledge North Korean defectors as refugee and repatriate them to North Korea.
The family members who committed suicide were a former officer of local institution of the Workers Party and his wife in their fifties and three teenagers. They made the irreversible decision in fear of the severe punishment that they would face after being repatriated to North Korea. This is a serious human rights infringement which would continue to happen.
The NHRCK urges the Korean government to identify the truth and take necessary measures to prevent recurrence of such tragedy.
In addition, the Chinese government made an official briefing in regards to the request of the UN to stop forcible repatriation of North Korean defectors. The Chinese government stated that North Korean defectors who illegally passed the Chinese border are not refugees but criminals who violated Chinese law. It also added that China had dealt with people who have illegally passed the Chinese border pursuant to international laws, domestic laws, and humanitarian principles, which could be interpreted that the Chinese government would not stop forcible repatriation.
Article 33 of the Convention Related to the Status of Refugees(Refugee Convention) prescribes that no Contracting State shall expel or return a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. In addition, article 3 of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment prescribes no State Party shall expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.
According to the 2014 Report of the UN COI and 2015 Annual Report of International Amnesty, North Korean people flee from North Korea, risking their lives in tight surveillance in border area and most of them go to China. If they are caught and repatriated to North Korea, they would face systematic abuse, torture, detention, immediate execution, forcible abortion and even sexual violence by the North Korean regime.
China has been ignoring the human rights infringements that the North Korean defectors would face upon forcible repatriation and continued to send them to North Korea, which cannot be seen as a faithful implementation of the Refugee Convention and Convention against Torture to which China is a State Party.
Taking these into consideration, the NHRCK urges the government of China to abide by the Refugee Convention and the Convention against Torture and acknowledge North Korean defectors as refugee and immediately stop forcible repatriation. In addition, it urges the Korean government to make necessary diplomatic efforts to encourage the Chinese government to protect North Korean defectors residing in China and stop forcible repatriation.
