A/HRC/WGAD/2012/47
(UDHR) and articles 19 and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights
(ICCPR).
8.
Moreover, the detainees have allegedly not been informed of the charges or the
reasons for their detention; they have had no access to a lawyer, no trial nor any possibility
of contesting the legality of their deprivation of liberty. The source submits that such
conduct by the authorities of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea constitutes
violations of the international norms and standards set forth in articles 9 and 10 of the
UDHR, articles 9 and 14 of the ICCPR, as well as in the Body of Principles for the
Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment (General
Assembly resolution 43/173, annex).
9.
The source further states that these cases are part of a larger pattern of detainees
being kept in prison camps, including No. 14 at Kaeachon, South Pyongan Province; No.
15 at Yodok, South Hamgyong Province; No. 16 at Hwasong, North Hamgyong Province;
No. 18 at Bukchang, South Pyongan Province; No. 22 at Hoeryong, North Hamgyong
Province; and No. 25 at Chongjin, North Hamgyong Province. It is reported that prisoners
held in these camps are forced to work in harsh conditions, mountain logging, stone
quarrying, farming and performing factory work while subsisting on meagre food rations.
According to the information received, most of the prisoners kept in these camps are
deprived of any possibility of communicating with the outside world and have no access to
medical treatment.
Response from the Government
10.
In its response of 3 September 2012, the Government notes that these alleged cases
form part of a political plot against the People’s Democratic Republic of Korea by the
authorities in the Republic of Korea. The Government therefore “categorically rejects the
cases … as one of the anti-DPRK attempts”.
Further comments from the source
11.
In its comments of 1 October 2012, the source submits that the Government has
failed to respond to the facts that it had presented and requests the Working Group to
proceed on the basis of such facts.
12.
The source reiterates its position that Ms. Kang, Mr. Kim and Mr. Shin should be
released from detention immediately. Their continued detention is arbitrary, in that it
violates the rights and fundamental freedoms established in the UDHR, the ICCPR, and the
Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons under Any Form of Detention or
Imprisonment.
Discussion
13.
According to the information provided by the source, Ms. Kang, Mr. Kim and Mr.
Shin are in detention, without any legal basis justifying the deprivation of their liberty and
in breach of the international norms relating to the right to a fair trial of such gravity as to
give the deprivation of liberty an arbitrary character. The Government has not provided any
information about the situation of the three individuals. The Government has not challenged
or rebutted the claims by the source that Ms. Kang, Mr. Kim and Mr. Shin are arbitrarily
detained beyond stating that it “categorically rejects the cases…as one of the anti-DPRK
attempts”. The Working Group has no other means of ascertaining their current situation
than through the cooperation of the Government. According to the Working Group’s
methods of work, it has to rely on the source’s information concerning the detention of Ms.
Kang, Mr. Kim and Mr. Shin.
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