Women in N Korea suffer from inhumane injustice
Muhammad Muzahidul Islam :
North Korea had acceded to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) in February 2001 and ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) in September 1990.
North Korea enacted ‘Women’s Rights Protection Law of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ and through article 10 it incorporated that international conventions ratified by this country related to women’s rights shall have the same legal effect as this law.
North Korea also claimed that “the DPRK has achieved gender equality long time ago, thus most of the targets of the global SDGs have been achieved”.
How far these positions are true in the lives of North Korean women?
Even though it is claimed that “gender equality” got places in the laws of North Korea, the de facto situations and circumstances prove that North Korean women go through in the country are far away from the de jure status they are supposed to enjoy.
North Korea enacted the Women’s Rights Protection Law.
Article 10 of this law provides that “This law regulates issues arising in assuring the rights of women.
Particulars not regulated in this law related to protecting women’s rights shall follow the relevant law.
International conventions ratified by our country related to women’s rights shall have the same legal effect as this law”.
Article 9 also provides that “The State shall develop exchange and cooperation with other countries and international organizations in the women’s rights protection field”.
Information from the report (Freedom in the world 2023, North Korea) of Freedom House said, “Men and women have formal equality in personal status matters such as marriage and divorce.
However, sexual and physical violence against women is common, and victims have little legal recourse.
There are no specific legal penalties for domestic violence.
UN bodies have noted the use of forced abortions on pregnant women when forcibly repatriated from China and infanticide of half-Chinese children”.
It is pertinent to mention here some information from the Mirror, UK; according to Mirror (7 September 2022) “A total of 35 women in North Korea are reported to have died from starvation in labour camps in just one month.
The women, living under the tyrannical regime of dictator Kim Jong-un, are believed to have starved in July after their relatives were unable to visit them and give them food due to Covid -19 restrictions”.
According to the Telegraph, UK (Inside China’s ‘Red Zone’ where North Korean women are sold as slaves, by Nicola Smith, 24 March 2023) ‘Another woman who was caught told the harrowing story of how she was raped by a camp supervisor in a police holding centre when she was forcibly repatriated to North Korea.’
“He ordered me to take off my pants and wash my genitals. He ordered me to lie down naked.
When I refused to do so, he took me by force and proceeded with intercourse,” she said. “I was ashamed. Where (and how) could I report this?”
According to paragraph no.
27 of a report (A/HRC/52/65) of UN Special Rapporteur on the situations of human rights in North Korea, “In the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, repatriated victims are labelled by authorities as ‘criminals’ if they commit ‘illegal border-crossing’ and as “traitors” if the authorities find any link suggesting an “intention” to escape to the Republic of Korea.
The punishment is determined by factors such as the length of the escapees’ stay in China and whether they had the “intention” to escape to the Republic of Korea”.
Paragraph no. 26 of the said report also stated that “Women leave the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for various reasons, including for family reasons, hardships suffered, discrimination and oppression experienced, as well as for economic survival.
Many women and girls who attempt to escape are sold into forced marriages with Chinese men or driven into the sex industry.
Even before crossing, they are vulnerable to sexual harassment, sexual assault, beatings and human trafficking by various perpetrators.
The Special Rapporteur has been informed that the recent ‘war on human trafficking’ declared by Chinese authorities and the tighter regulations on human trafficking may represent a risk for victims in China who are excluded from protection, given that they are classified as “illegal immigrants” with no refugee status”.
On the basis of the principle of non-refoulement, one could argue that host- states should not forcibly repatriate the North Korean escapees to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. And in such a case, it would be the violation of the principle of non-refoulement.
However, even though North Korea claimed [(Voluntary National Review (2021)], ‘the DPRK has achieved gender equality long time ago, thus most of the targets of the global SDGs have been achieved’, findings of various reports suggest that the de facto situations and circumstances that the North Korean women go through, are far away from the de jure status they are supposed to enjoy.
In order to escape from this situation, North Korea must be honest and sincere to its commitments and should seek and/or welcome the international and regional cooperation.
(The writer is a Barrister-at-Law, Human Rights Activist and an Advocate at the Supreme
Court of Bangladesh).
