Muhammad Muzahidul Islam :
People of North Korea have been suffering from the abuse of human rights for a long time. UN’s report revealed that crimes against humanity were committed in North Korea. The international community has, so far, failed to establish any effective accountability mechanisms to close the mouth of impunity.
Some accountability mechanisms that are already in systems cannot, however, play effective roles in punishing the perpetrators; and we all know the challenges and reasons behind this failure. Let me assume that one day in future there will be effective national or international judicial or non-judicial accountability mechanisms to bring the perpetrators to justice.
The evidence or proof of the abuses of human rights would, then, be needed to prove the cases of perpetration. Is there any preparatory work within the UN system keeping and preserving useful documents and evidence of perpetration that could be used to facilitate those potential accountability mechanisms?
I would not discuss the accountability mechanisms that could be used to punish the North Korean perpetrators; I would briefly discuss the repository of evidence that could facilitate those. There can be various mechanisms that can be used to facilitate the judicial or non-judicial national or international accountability mechanisms.
Let me share with you the one that is in existence; the repository of the UN Human Rights Office in Seoul.
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights has a human rights office in Seoul, South Korea. According to the website of this office “The United Nations Human Rights Council decided at its 34th session in March 2017 (RES/34/24) to strengthen our capacity to monitor and document human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, particularly those that may amount to crimes against humanity. This mandate was extended in 2019 (RES/40/20).
In March 2021 (RES/46/17), the Council decided to continue this work for another two years. To fulfill this mandate, we have established a team of dedicated experts on legal accountability to identify, collect and preserve information and evidence from various sources about human rights violations, to analyse information collected, notably in the light of international criminal law standards and to explore and promote strategies for accountability.
We have established a central information and evidence repository, which is a central archive for preserving and managing information and evidence of human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.
The repository will bring together information and evidence including interviews, reports, satellite imagery, maps, court documents, videos, audio recordings and petition letters from various sources. The repository will be a key resource for any future national or international truth and justice processes. It will also facilitate the identification of elements of crimes, modes of liability and possible perpetrators, thus assisting future accountability mechanisms.”
The UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in North Korea submitted her report (A/HRC/55/63, 26 March 2024). In this report, she mentioned the various accountability mechanisms to hold the North Korean perpetrators accountable. She also mentioned the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in the following words: “43”.
At the request of the Human Rights Council, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) established its Seoul office in 2015 to strengthen monitoring and documentation of the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, “to ensure accountability, to enhance engagement and capacity-building with the Governments of all States concerned, civil society and other stakeholders, and to maintain visibility of the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea”.
In response to a 2017 recommendation of the group of independent experts on accountability, the Human Rights Council strengthened, for a period of two years, the capacity of OHCHR, including its field-based structure in Seoul, “to allow the implementation of relevant recommendations made by the group of independent experts on accountability in its report aimed at strengthening current monitoring and documentation efforts, establishing a central information and evidence repository, and having experts in legal accountability assess all information and testimonies with a view to developing possible strategies to be used in any future accountability process”.
In April 2022, the Human Rights Council requested OHCHR to “organize a series of consultations and outreach activities with victims, affected communities and other relevant stakeholders with a view to including their views into avenues for accountability.”
I would also quote the relevant portion from paragraph 44 of the said report. It provides that “The work of OHCHR remains critical. By interviewing more than 700 escapees, consulting with victims and other stakeholders, maintaining and populating its central repository of evidence and information, having legal experts review the information gathered for evidence of crimes against humanity, providing capacity-building for stakeholders and raising awareness about human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, it helps to lay the foundation for future accountability mechanisms, including judicial accountability, while providing avenues for non-judicial accountability.”
It is important to note that without sufficient evidence the potential accountability mechanisms would fail to establish cases against the alleged perpetrators. The accountability mechanisms would certainly require sufficient proof or evidence of perpetration. It is expected that the said repository of evidence would facilitate the potential accountability mechanisms to perform their functions. And it could play an important role in establishing justice and closing the mouth of impunity.
(Author: Muhammad Muzahidul Islam is a barrister-at-law, human rights activist and an advocate at the Supreme
Court of Bangladesh.)