Korea Future Releases Position Paper Addressing North Koreans’ Forced Repatriation
A Call for Immediate Action
Korea Future has released its fourth position paper, highlighting the urgent and systemic human rights violations arising from the forced repatriation of North Korean citizens. This practice, recently intensified following the reopening of the DPRK’s borders in 2023 and still ongoing, places returnees, including women, at severe risk of unlawful detention, torture, and abuse.
Unveiling the Evidence
The paper provides targeted data on how forced repatriation contradicts the rule of law and international obligations. It documents systemic detentions, gender-based violence, and ill-treatments, revealing a pattern of institutionalised violations within the DPRK penal system that we must remedy.
Key findings include:
Arbitrary Detentions: Citizens returning to the DPRK are routinely accused of illegal border crossing and face detention that is based on the exercise of fundamental rights.
Gendered Abuse: Women, representing 70% of repatriated individuals, suffer targeted sexual and gender-based violence, including invasive body searches and physical assault.
Systematic Practices: These violations are not isolated but part of a coordinated system that weaponises detention as a tool of repression.
Legal and Policy Implications
The position paper offers a comprehensive factual and legal analysis of the ramifications of these practices, emphasising their incompatibility with international standards. It outlines the connection between forced repatriation, broader systemic abuses and targeting of repatriated persons, and the urgent need for reform. Finally, it recommends a policy intervention tailored to the multilateral framework of the UN and aligning with the collective aim of ending human rights violations and abuses.
Recommendations for 2025 Resolution
Through the adoptions of readily drafted language insertions, Korea Future urges the 2025 UN Human Rights Council Resolution on the DPRK to include explicit measures halting forced repatriation and ensuring freedom of movement, emphasise protections for women in detention against gender-specific vulnerabilities, and implement mechanisms to hold perpetrators accountable while preventing further abuses.
Progress and Continuity
Building on the advancements of prior submissions, this paper continues Korea Future’s mission to inform and shape international policy. By spotlighting these critical issues, we aim to drive progressive changes for the people of the DPRK.