Muhammad Muzahidul Islam :
North Korea is going to undergo the 4th cycle of Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in November 2024 at the 47th session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review.
The last time when this country went through the 3rd cycle of UPR was in 2019. Some important recommendations were received and accepted by this country during the 3rd cycle. Is UPR an effective peer review system of collective engagement to oblige a State to implement its human rights obligations? What developments have, so far, been made about the implementation of the commitments since 2019? What are the concerns and expectations for the upcoming 4th cycle of UPR of North Korea?
Before jumping to the issue of North Korea’s upcoming UPR, I would like to share some information about the UPR. We know that UPR was established by the resolution (60/251) of the UN General Assembly in 2006. The same resolution created the Human Rights Council in 2006. And the same one mandated the Human Rights Council to take UPR.
The website of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) provides some important information about the UPR. What is the Universal Periodic Review? – the said website answered this question with the following words “The Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a unique process which involves a periodic review of the human rights records of all 193 UN Member States.
The UPR is a significant innovation of the Human Rights Council which is based on equal treatment for all countries. It provides an opportunity for all States to declare what actions they have taken to improve the human rights situations in their countries and to overcome challenges to the enjoyment of human rights. The UPR also includes a sharing of best human rights practices around the globe. Currently, no other mechanism of this kind exists.”
About the upcoming UPR of North Korea, many civil society organizations already expressed their concerns and expectations. I would like to share the summary of a joint submission (Joint Submission to the Universal Periodic Review of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,47th Session of the UN Universal Periodic Review) that was presented on behalf of Human Rights Watch, and Transitional Justice Working Group.
According to Human Rights Watch (April 9, 2024 1:30PM EDT) “This submission is presented on behalf of Human Rights Watch and Transitional Justice Working Group, addressing developments since the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK or North Korea) in its 33rd session.
Summary: The Covid-19 pandemic posed unprecedented challenges to governments worldwide, testing their capacity to uphold human rights protections while imposing restrictions to protect health and reduce transmission.
Since 2019, which marked the last UPR of the DPRK), the human rights situation regarding the rights to food, health, adequate standard of living, and to freedom of expression and movement has deteriorated notably. In response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the North Korean government enforced stringent measures, placing extreme and unnecessary restrictions on peoples’ most basic freedoms. Measures included enhanced border controls, regional lockdowns, and severe restrictions on trade and movement, ultimately strengthening its control over the population.
For over 75 years, the North Korean government has imposed harsh controls, perpetuating human rights violations such as arbitrary detention, torture, and unfair trials, fostering a climate of fear and obedience.
The implications of the unintended impacts of international sanctions, coupled with the impact of measures implemented during the Covid-19 pandemic, further deepened the nation’s severe isolation from the rest of the world, disrupting cross-border movements, trade, and aid, and exacerbating the country’s already existing humanitarian crisis and the population’s hardships, reminiscent of the famine of the 1990s.
During its previous UPR, North Korea received 262 recommendations from United Nations member states. North Korea accepted 132 of the recommendations related to the acceptance of international norms, fair trial, freedom of movement, thought, religion and expression, rights to food, health, education, and an adequate standard of living, equality and non-discrimination, and the rights of women, children, and persons with disabilities.
The North Korean government outright rejected 63 recommendations, including those advocating for the abolition of repressive systems, arbitrary executions, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances, slavery, and trafficking, the promotion of press freedom, and improved detainee treatment. Since the last UPR, the DPRK has not meaningfully engaged with any international human rights mechanisms and has adopted new repressive laws, further deteriorating the human rights conditions in the country.
As a UN member that has ratified five core human rights treaties, North Korea has committed to protecting various fundamental human rights, yet it continues to systematically violate these obligations. As of April 2024, the DPRK has not submitted its fifth report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), due in November 2021.
The government has disregarded international calls for cooperation, notably rejecting the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, and the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on North Korea.”
The peer review process of UPR ensures that all countries are accountable for progress or failure in the implementation of the recommendations. During the fourth review, North Korea is expected to provide information on what they have been doing to implement the recommendations made during the third review as well as on any developments in the field of human rights.
It is expected that North Korea will be sincere in its obligations that come from the relevant international human rights instruments; otherwise, the very goal of the UPR would be frustrated.
(The author is a barrister-at-law, human rights activist and an advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh.)
