Protecting North Korean Refugees: Statement by Greg Scarlatoiu, HRNK Executive Director
"PROTECTING NORTH KOREAN REFUGEES"
House Foreign Affairs Committee
Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations
Statement of Greg Scarlatoiu, Executive Director, Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK), on “Protecting North Korean Refugees” at the Hearing of the Subcommittee on Africa, Global Health, Global Human Rights, and International Organizations, December 12, 2017
Good afternoon Chairman Smith, Ranking Member Bass, and members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the invitation to testify before you today. It is a true honor and a privilege.
My name is Greg Scarlatoiu. I am the executive director of the
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea (HRNK). We are a nonpartisan research
organization headquartered in Washington, DC that conducts original research on
North Korean human rights issues. Over the last 16 years, we have published over
30 reports available at HRNK.ORG, documenting for the world the horrifying
truth about the extent of human rights abuses in North Korea. Our work has
played a central role in assisting and informing the efforts of the US State
Department, the UN Commission of Inquiry, and numerous other stakeholders who
care passionately about the rights of people in North Korea. Most recently, the
report submitted by UN Secretary-General Antรณnio Guterres to the UN General Assembly on August 28th quoted one
of HRNK’s publications.
On behalf of HRNK, thank you for your time and interest in
the plight of North Korean refugees, an ongoing human rights issue and crisis
perpetuated by both North Korea and China today. The protection of North Korean
refugees relates to fundamental human rights, human dignity, and state
obligations under international law.
On the current
situation of North Korean refugees in China
In July 2017, a North Korean refugee family of five, on
their way to the Republic of Korea, committed suicide while in Chinese custody
awaiting forcible repatriation to North Korea. More recently in November,
reports by BBC Korea stated that China forcibly returned a group of ten
refugees to North Korea, including a mother and her four-year-old son. This
information comes from a Mr. Lee, the husband and father of these two victims,
currently hiding in China.
For the past few years, among the interns trained at HRNK we
have also worked with former North Korean refugees, currently holding South
Korean citizenship. Some of these young bright escapees explained their
experiences living on the run in China. One intern, when asked how she had learned
Chinese, clarified that prior to her escape to South Korea, she had grown up in
secret, hidden behind closed doors in China. As she was undocumented and feared
the Chinese government would arrest her and forcibly return her to North Korea,
her Chinese protectors brought her books to help her learn and pass the time.
China does not uphold its obligations under international
law because it very rarely allows North Korean refugees access to the UN
Refugee Agency (UNHCR), instead only permitting the UNHCR an office in Beijing,
far from the border. As evidenced by their forcible repatriation, China denies
many North Koreans the ability to apply for asylum or have safe passage to the
Republic of Korea or other countries. China claims that North Koreans in need
of protection are illegal economic migrants. But in reality they are victims fleeing
persecution or those who face a well-founded fear of persecution if forcibly
returned to North Korea.
Time after time, we hear from North Korean refugees that
when they were repatriated by China they faced imprisonment, torture, and various
forms of sexual violence. Especially if the interrogators suspect that the
repatriated refugees came across South Korean nationals or Christian
missionaries while in China, the punishment is sure to be harsh. Determined to
escape the oppression and chronic human insecurity of North Korea, some attempt
to escape again, even after detention and imprisonment. Some are successful and
manage to tell the stories of their harrowing escape to the outside world. Through
the voices of escapees who find their way to freedom in South Korea and other
countries, and based on the gender ratio of former North Koreans resettled in
South Korea, we know that up to eighty percent of North Korean refugees in
China are women. In the absence of any semblance of protection, they fall
victim to human traffickers and other criminals. Many of those forced into
sexual bondage, under the guise of “marriage” with Chinese men in run-down
rural areas, are often abused by the would-be “spouse” and the entire family.
Their children’s human security is beyond precarious. China denies North Korean
children the right to education, health, and personal security, as well as
liberty, when they are detained awaiting forcible repatriation.
On the UN Commission of Inquiry
In 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human
Rights in North Korea (UN COI) found that North Koreans forcibly repatriated by
China systematically endure persecution,
torture while being interrogated about their activities abroad, sexual
violence, and imprisonment in North Korea’s inhuman detention system. Persons found to have had contact
with the Republic of Korea or Christian churches may be forcibly disappeared into political prison camps, imprisoned in forced
labor camps, or summarily executed.
The UN COI also found
that North Koreans who try to flee their country and those in detention are
among the primary targets of a systematic and
widespread attack by North Korea, making them the most vulnerable and in need
of protection. Not
only are North Koreans targeted for escaping their totalitarian state, but then
they are targeted by the Chinese government, and ultimately victimized again
once repatriated to North Korea and imprisoned. It truly is a vicious cycle of
political oppression and violence perpetrated against countless innocents.
Despite the UN COI’s findings and despite the fact that
North Koreans are entitled to international protection as refugees fleeing
persecution or refugees sur place, “China pursues a rigorous
policy of forcibly repatriating citizens of [North Korea] who cross the border
illegally” with the view that these persons are “illegal economic migrants.”
Furthermore, China received a warning by the UN COI in 2014
that its policy of forcibly repatriating North Korean refugees could
potentially amount to aiding and abetting North Korean perpetrators of crimes against humanity. The UN COI urged
China to caution relevant officials that conduct could amount to the aiding and abetting of crimes against
humanity where repatriations and
information exchanges are specifically directed toward or have the purpose
of facilitating the commission of crimes against humanity in North Korea.
Without question, China has been put on notice that its
policies, practices, and support for North Korea are unacceptable—yet, at the fourth
annual UN Security Council meeting on human rights abuses in North Korea held
yesterday, China called for a procedural vote to stop the public meeting. This
effort failed, but China persists in its efforts to support the Kim regime, as
evidenced by its forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees.
On human trafficking
Up to ninety percent of North Korean women and girls in
China fall prey to traffickers in China who sell them into sexual slavery,
either in forced marriages or prostitution, to their shock and horror.
Countless North Korean women are victimized in this manner because they are
vulnerable as they try to escape the brutal conditions of their home country.
In China, the women and girls are fodder for often-rural men looking for wives.
They may have arrived in China with young children too, only to be cruelly
separated by human traffickers. The cycle of violence and oppression once again
continues as these women and girls are held against their will or are coerced
into submission out of fear that the Chinese family will report them to authorities.
Additionally, women and girls impregnated by Chinese men are further victimized
when the Chinese government does not recognize the children they bear as legal
residents otherwise entitled to basic rights to education and other public
services.
On prison camps
A core HRNK objective is to completely, verifiably, and
irreversibly dismantle North Korea’s vast system of unlawful imprisonment,
where up to 120,000 men, women, and children are detained under abysmal
circumstances, forced to work and die in prison camps because of their
perceived lack of loyalty to the Kim family. As such, HRNK is aware of six
operational political prison camps and the existence of over twenty potential
labor camps inside North Korea, recently documented in our October 2017 report The Parallel Gulag.
Our 2015 report, The
Hidden Gulag IV: Gender Repression and Prison Disappearances, documents
the particular vulnerabilities of North Korean women jailed in a network of
“political prison camps” (kwan-li-so) and “labor camps” (kyo-hwa-so).
Increasingly, these facilities house women who have attempted to flee the
country, and here, rates of mortality, malnutrition, forced labor, and
exploitation are high. As our Co-Chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen, a distinguished human rights and displaced persons expert
noted, “Women in particular are fleeing North Korea in ever greater
numbers. When they are apprehended, they are subjected to deliberate
starvation, persecution, and punishment. Their situation cries out for international
attention.”
In this report, we also found evidence that an additional
section of Camp 12 at Jongo-ri, North Hamgyong Province, was built to imprison
the influx of women arrested and forcibly repatriated by China. Our interviews
with former prisoners at this camp indicate that upwards of one thousand women
are enslaved here. Eighty percent, eight hundred of them, are forcibly
repatriated refugees. According to our witnesses, former Camp 12 prisoners
themselves, so many women prisoners were brought to the camp that a new
building annex was constructed to house them. We were able to confirm the
presence of the new construction through satellite imagery acquisition and
analysis. In the aftermath of Typhoon Lionrock in August-September 2016, Camp
12 was flooded, as confirmed by satellite imagery we acquired and analyzed. The
humanitarian impact of that natural catastrophe on the human security of Camp
12 inmates was likely very dire, as prisoners represent one of the most
vulnerable segments of North Korea’s population.
In her written
testimony submitted after this hearing, HRNK Co-chair Emeritus Roberta Cohen will
raise, among other points, the treatment of forcibly repatriated North Koreans
and the development of a potential UN role for protecting them. This is the
topic of an ongoing project run by HRNK in collaboration with our partner
organization The Jacob Blaustein Institute for the Advancement of Human Rights
(HRNK).
On China’s non-compliance with international
conventions
North Koreans fleeing political persecution–based on North
Korea’s discriminatory social class system known as songbun–are refugees as defined in the 1951 Convention relating to
the Status of Refugees. North Koreans with a well-founded fear of persecution
upon their forcible return to North Korea by China are refugees sur place and must be given protection under China’s
international obligations, including the 1951 Convention relating to the Status
of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees.
China’s forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees
violates its obligation to uphold the principle of non-refoulement under the Refugee Convention. Furthermore, China
violates article 3 of the Torture Convention, which states, “No State Party
shall expel, return (‘refouler’) 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.”
On US and global efforts to protect refugees
and surge information
Notwithstanding high-level advocacy, China has forcibly
repatriated tens of thousands of North Koreans. However, over 30,000 North
Korean refugees now reside in over 20 nations, with the vast majority of them,
31,000 currently living in the Republic of Korea. While the United States
Refugee Admissions Program remains the largest in the world, fewer than 220
refugees from North Korea have resettled since the enactment of the North Korea
Human Rights Act of 2004.
As part of efforts
to provide information on North Korea’s human rights abuses, HRNK wrote and
published a series of Wikipedia contributions on human rights in North Korea,
including in Chinese. China is perhaps the only country in the world with
substantial leverage on the Kim regime, accounting for over 80% of North
Korea’s foreign trade. As a result, the awareness and support of the Chinese
people is now more imperative than ever, although the degree to which the
public can actually influence foreign policy in China is highly debatable, to
say the least. The Wikipedia pages created by HRNK are available in English,
Korean,
and Chinese.
On United States policy
Painfully
aware of ongoing concerns and echoing HRNK’s previous recommendations submitted
together with then HRNK Board Co-Chair Roberta Cohen before a March 5, 2012
hearing of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, I respectfully
recommend the following:
First, the United States should urge China to immediately halt its
forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees, and thus fulfill its obligations
pursuant to the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of
Refugees, the 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees, the Torture
Convention, and the 1995 Agreement on the Upgrading of the UNHCR Mission in the
People’s Republic of China.
Second, the United States should call
upon China to allow the UNHCR unimpeded access to North Koreans inside China to
determine whether they are refugees and whether they require assistance.
Third, the United States should call
upon China to adopt legislation incorporating its obligations under the Refugee
Convention, the Convention against Torture, and other international human
rights agreements and to bring its existing laws into line with internationally
agreed upon principles. It should be expected to declare and uphold a
moratorium on deportations of North Koreans until its laws and practices are
brought into line with international standards.
Fourth, the United States should call
upon China to recognize the legal status of North Korean women who marry or
have children with Chinese citizens, and ensure that all such children are
granted resident status and access to education and other public services in
accordance with both Chinese law and international standards.
Fifth, in the absence of a Chinese response,
the issue should be brought before international refugee and human rights fora.
UNHCR’s Executive Committee as well as the UN Human Rights Council and General
Assembly of the United Nations should all be expected to call on China by
name to carry out its obligations under refugee and human rights law
and enact legislation to codify these obligations so that North Koreans will
not be forcibly repatriated while facing a credible fear of persecution.
Sixth, the United States should promote
a multilateral approach to the problem of North Koreans leaving their country.
Their exodus affects more than China. This critical issue concerns our South
Korean allies most notably, as South Korea already houses 31,000 North Korean
escapees, and its Constitution offers citizenship to North Koreans. Together
with UNHCR, a multilateral approach should be designed that finds solutions for
North Koreans based on principles of non-refoulement and
human rights and humanitarian protection. Building on the precedent of other
refugee populations, international burden sharing should be developed to
protect North Koreans seeking to escape the tyranny of the Kim regime.
Seventh, following the passage of the North Korean
Human Rights Reauthorization Act of 2017, which mandates the position of the
Special Envoy for North Korean Human Rights, I respectfully urge the US
Congress to encourage the prompt appointment of a qualified candidate. I share
in the belief that the large number of special envoys in the State Department
should be greatly reduced. I strongly believe, however, that this particular
issue merits the full-time, high profile focus across various agencies that the
Special Envoy has so effectively brought, and would continue to bring.
Eighth, additional
funds should be appropriated for clandestine information flow into North Korea,
for non-governmental organizations working to improve human rights in North
Korea, and for the resettlement of North Korean refugees in the United States.
The most critical challenge our country faces today is the
nuclear and ballistic missile threat posed by the regime of Kim Jong-un.
Grateful for the Subcommittee’s unabated determination to protect North Korean
refugees in China, I respectfully urge you to continue to consider the vital
importance of formulating and adopting a robust human rights policy, including
a North Korean refugee protection policy, that can be integrated into US
security policy toward both China and North Korea’s Kim regime.
HRNK resources
Four HRNK publications
address the precarious plight of North Koreans in China and the cruel and
inhumane practice of forcibly sending them back to one of the world’s most
oppressive regimes.
· The first, The North Korean Refugee
Crisis: Human Rights and International Response (2006), edited by
Stephan Haggard and Marcus Noland, establishes that most if not all North
Koreans in China merit a prima facie claim to refugee or refugee
sur place status. This report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/The_North_Korean_Refugee_Crisis.pdf.
· The second, Lives for Sale: Personal
Accounts of Women Fleeing North Korea to China (2010), calls upon
China to set up a screening process with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees
(UNHCR) to determine the status of North Koreans and ensure they are not
forcibly returned. This report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Lives_for_Sale.pdf.
· The third, Hidden Gulag Second
Edition by David Hawk (2012), presents the harrowing testimony of scores of
North Koreans severely punished after being returned to North Korea. This
report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/HRNK_HiddenGulag2_Web_5-18.pdf.
· The fourth, Gender Repression and Hidden
Gulag IV: Gender Repression and Prisoner Disappearances by David Hawk
(2015) finds that North Korean women, desperate to ensure their families’
survival after catastrophic famine in the 1990s—are excessively victimized and detention facilities for women have notably
expanded. This report, as well as satellite imagery that verifies the
additional structure, are available here: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hawk_HiddenGulag4_FINAL.pdf
and https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/ASA_HRNK_Camp12_201608_v10_LR.pdf.
In October 2017,
HRNK published The Parallel Gulag: North
Korea’s “An-jeon-bu” Prisons by David Hawk with Amanda Mortwedt Oh. The
Honorable Michael Kirby, former Chair of the UN COI, states that Parallel
Gulag “updates the record contained in the COI report” and “shows that
North Korea’s system of political oppression remains in place as an affront to
the conscience of humanity.” The report is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/uploads/pdfs/Hawk_The_Parallel_Gulag_Web.pdf
with picture files available at https://www.flickr.com/photos/159228385@N04/sets/72157661876737398/.
Prior Congressional testimony to the CECC on North Korean
refugees by Roberta Cohen and Greg Scarlatoiu is available at: https://www.hrnk.org/events/congressional-hearings-view.php?id=7
and https://www.hrnk.org/events/congressional-hearings-view.php?id=1.
Thank you for your kind consideration.
Greg Scarlatoiu
Executive Director
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea
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