25th September, 2015
Religious freedom advocacy Christian Solidarity Worldwide has written to Chinese President Xi Jinping asking that refugees from North Korea be allowed safe access to a third country.
In a letter sent this week to mark the Day of Action on behalf of North Korean Refugees and the 33rd anniversary of China becoming a signatory of the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol, Mervyn Thomas, chief executive of the UK-based organisation, said that unlike refugees in other crises, those fleeing North Korea can go for immediate resettlement in South Korea, of which they are considered citizens.
He said the US and other countries have also shown a willingness to accept North Korean refugees for resettlement. "There is no reason for them to remain a burden and concern for China and face the threat of repatriation to North Korea where they will most certainly be tortured and imprisoned and, in some cases, executed for fleeing their country."
Australian Justice MIchael Kirby has written a supporting letter to the President, on behalf of the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, citing findings which show that North Korean refugees who cross into China have a "well-founded" fear of being persecuted and that those forcibly repatriated have been subject to torture, arbitrary detention and, in some instances, rape, enforced disappearances, summary execution, and other human rights violations.
Other findings show that there are "reasonable grounds" for believing that Chinese officials have shared information with North Korean authorities, further aggravating the risk for repatriated North Koreans, and that China is allowing North Korean agents to operate on Chinese territory and even abduct former citizens.
In addition, the inquiry showed that many North Korean women have been trafficked into forced marriages and, in some instances, commercial sexual exploitation, and that estimates of “stateless” children in China (children of Chinese fathers and North Korean mothers) range from 10,000 to as high as 25,000.
– DAVID ADAMS
