A/HRC/WGAD/2013/34 declared guilty by the State Security Protection Agency, the detainee is either executed immediately or transferred to a prison camp. Throughout their detention, prisoners are reportedly not given a trial and are held incommunicado without any information concerning the charges against them or the length or place of detention. According to reports, detainees have been held in harsh conditions. It has been alleged that prisoners, including children, have been subjected to forced labour, and that torture and public executions are common within the camps. Reports also suggest that women have been subjected to sexual exploitation, rape, forced abortion and killing. In at least four camps, the majority of prisoners reportedly remain in custody until their death. Over the past few decades, it is estimated that at least 400,000 prisoners have perished in the camps.” 29. 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, so that when a person is punished for a political or ideological crime, members of his or her family are also punished. Up to three generations of family members of detainees are sent on this basis to the camps in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. Detainees are often not told the reasons for their detention or whether they will ever be released. No information regarding their whereabouts is provided to friends, neighbours, co-workers or more distant relatives who enquire about them. 30. The Working Group recalls that on 3 October 2012, it, together with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances, sent a joint letter to the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the alleged use of labour camps for political prisoners. Having received no response from the Government, the mandate holders issued a press release in February 2013 calling for an international inquiry into the human rights abuses in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which would shed light on the country’s extensive political prison camp system. 31. The Working Group takes note of the recently established commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, mandated by the Human Rights Council in resolution 22/13 to investigate the systematic, widespread and grave reports of violations of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, with a view to ensuring full accountability, in particular for violations which could amount to crimes against humanity. Among the violations to be investigated are those pertaining to the right to food, those associated with prison camps, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, freedom of expression, the right to life, freedom of movement and enforced disappearances, including in the form of abduction of nationals of other States. 32. In a statement made to the Third Committee of the sixty-eighth session of the General Assembly on 29 October 2013, the Chair noted that the “final conclusions and recommendations [of the commission of inquiry] must await the end of the investigation. However, the entire body of evidence gathered so far points to what appear to be largescale patterns of systematic and gross human rights violations”. 33. The Working Group recalls that it noted in its Opinions Nos. 4/2012 and 47/2012 referred to above that under certain circumstances, widespread or systematic imprisonment or other severe deprivation of liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law may constitute crimes against humanity. The current case makes it necessary to reaffirm this. The duty to comply with international human rights standards that are peremptory and 6