PARTNERS
Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights
Citizens' Alliance for North Korean Human Rights (NKHR) is a non-governmental, non-profit organization founded by human rights activists, scholars, and North Korean re-settlers in May 1996. In the spirit of humanism, we engage in active public campaigns along with other civic organizations and human rights activists from various countries. In its efforts to spread awareness about human rights violations particularly at the international level, we have organized international conferences worldwide, and in so doing, established an international network of NGO successfully highlighting the issues of political prison camps, children and women, enforced disappearances, and refugees.
The Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU)
The Korean War Abductees Family Union (KWAFU), following in the footsteps of the Family Association that was founded in 1951, was re-formed in 2000 by the families of the wartime abductees with a view to ascertaining the fate of the abducted persons and guaranteeing the human rights and implementing humanitarians measures for the survivors.
KWAFU has carried out various domestic and international activities to ascertain the fate of the wartime abductees and to resolve the repatriation issue by collecting documentary materials concerning the abductions including the list of wartime abductees, publishing a series of books based on taped video testimonies of the post-war escapees and families who had witnessed abduction, the promulgation of a special law, adoption of a resolution in the US House of Representatives and submission of complaints to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID).
JUSTICE FOR NORTH KOREA (JFNK)
The JFNK is an international volunteer organization established in 2007 that notifies the international community of the serious situation of human rights in North Korea, and strives to improve human rights in North Korea, focusing on international agreements and international organizations. We are investigating the damages of crimes against humanity such as forced disappearance and forced detention of North Koreans, infringement of freedom of thought and expression, and researching, collecting data through the sites of North Korean residents' sojourn. In order to improve the human rights status of North Korean defectors, urge the protection of the country of stay, and support the escape to a third country to prevent forced repatriation of North Korean defectors.
1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association
The 1969 KAL Abductees’ Families Association works for the resolution of the 1969 Korean Air Lines YS-11 hijacking incident perpetrated by North Korea, including by calling upon the North Korean government to immediately return 11 of the 50 South Korean citizens who are being held in North Korea against their will to this day.
Mulmangcho
Mulmangcho is an NGO founded in May 2012 for human rights advocacy for North Korean residents, North Korean escapees and South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) who escaped from North Korea. Mulmangcho provides various education and assistance program to improve the quality of life for North Korean escapees and organizes seminars to publicize the South Korean POWs issue and North Korean human rights issues.
No Chain
Organized primarily by families of the victims of North Korea's political prison camps, No Chain aims to dismantle the political prison camps and improve human rights in North Korea. We have systemized our long work to publicize the reality of North Korea's political prison camps and have established a sustainable and periodic process for the improvement of human rights in North Korea through cooperation with international organizations such as the UN. No Chain has also forwarded petitions asking the fate of inmates of political prison camps on behalf of their families to the North Korean government through the UN and has been making efforts through the UN and other channels to stop crimes against humanity including arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, torture and forced labor. Ultimately, we strive not only to dismantle the political prison camps but also to end human rights abuses in ordinary prisons.
Family Union of Korean POWs Detained in North Korea
The Family Union of Korean POWs Detained in North Korea was initially founded in 2005 and registered as a non-profit organization to the South Korea’s Ministry of Defense in 2008. After the first escape and return to South Korea by First Lieutenant Cho Chang-Ho in 1994, eighty POWs have returned to South Korea as of 2021, with the last POW returning in 2010. We were organized by the returned POWs and their children, who were born in North Korea and subjected to various forms of discrimination and constant surveillance before escaping to South Korea.
We have urged both the South and North Korean governments to resolve POW issues, made efforts to enact and amend relevant laws, and submitted petitions to the United Nations regarding the arbitrary detention and disappearance of POWs. We also advocate for the rights of POWs and their children who have escaped on their own, helping them settle in South Korea.
Access Accountability
Access Accountability is an initiative of the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG) based in Seoul, South Korea. Access Accountability arose from TJWG’s experience as a start-up NGO seeking resources and expertise to guide the development of our structure, projects and systems. We provide training and resources for human rights documentation groups globally by identifying areas of need and matching them with the expertise required to achieve their goals. Our aim is to assist groups involved in monitoring and documenting human rights abuses in any region, but particularly those who may be looking ahead to a transitional justice process in their local context.
BUILT BY
Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG)
Founded in September 2014, TJWG is a Seoul-based human rights documentation and advocacy NGO with the aim of realizing and supporting transitional justice mechanisms for fact-finding, accountability, reparations, institutional reform and memorialization. TJWG believes in the importance of innovative and rigorous documentation as the foundation of effective human rights advocacy. TJWG has been preparing for a future politico-economic transition in North Korea in line with its core mission of human rights documentation and advocacy and in association with its expanding international partnership with human rights defenders worldwide.