A/HRC/WGAD/2013/36
concerning persons deprived of their liberty, is unlikely to facilitate any constructive
dialogue.
24.
As the Government has not provided any information about the situation of the
petitioners, the Working Group, according to its methods of work, has to rely on the
information provided by the source concerning the detention of the petitioners.
25.
The Working Group recalls its Opinion No. 4/2012 (Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea) and No. 47/2012 (Democratic People’s Republic of Korea) in which the Working
Group held that the detention of the persons concerned was arbitrary. It requested that the
Government take the necessary steps to remedy the situation, i.e. the immediate release of
these individuals, and accord them an enforceable right to compensation in accordance with
article 9, paragraph 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
26.
The Working Group also takes note of Human Rights Council resolution 7/15 of
2008 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and
recalls all previous resolutions adopted by the Commission on Human Rights and the
General Assembly on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea, including Commission resolutions 2004/13 and 2005/11 and Assembly resolution
62/167.
27.
In addition, the Working Group refers to the concluding observations of a number of
treaty bodies in respect of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, including the
Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC/C/PRK/CO/4), the Committee on the
Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW/C/PRK/CO/1), the Committee on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (E/2004/22, paras. 510-558) and the Human Rights
Committee (CCPR/CO/72/PRK). The Human Rights Committee expressed its serious
concern at several issues related to detention and the lack of compatibility of the legislation
of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea with the prohibition of forced labour
contained in article 8, paragraph 3 (a), of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights.
28.
The Working Group further notes the important work of other charter-based bodies
of the United Nations, including resolution 2004/13 of the Commission on Human Rights
on the appointment of a Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, and reporting by the special procedures mandate
holders.
29.
In his most recent report to the General Assembly (A/68/319), the Special
Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
stated that, according to information received, labour camps have been in operation in the
country since the 1950s and individuals who have committed, or are perceived to have
committed, a political crime are involuntarily or forcibly taken to an interrogation facility,
detained and typically subjected to torture until a confession is obtained. Once declared
guilty, detainees are either executed or transferred to a prison camp where they are held
incommunicado and without trial in harsh conditions. Furthermore, it is alleged that
prisoners, including children, have been subjected to forced labour and that torture and
public executions are common within the camps. It is also reported that women are subject
to rape, forced abortion and killing and that the majority of prisoners in at least four camps
remain in custody until their death. At least 40,000 prisoners have reportedly perished in
the camps.
30.
The Working Group further takes note of the attention drawn by the Special
Rapporteur to the particularly worrying practice, widely documented by the United
Nations, of detention due to guilt by association, whereby when a person is punished for a
political or ideological crime, members of his or her family are also punished, with up to
three generations of family members sent on this basis to the camps. Detainees are often not
5