UN COI Report on DPRK & the Future of Human Rights Policy

In March 2013, the United Nations Human Rights Council voted unanimously to launch a Commission of Inquiry (COI) on human rights violations in North Korea. After collecting evidence through public hearings and private interviews, the Commission’s report found that the highest levels of the North Korean government were responsible for policies that enabled crimes against humanity such as torture, forced disappearance, concentration camps, knowingly causing starvation, and the restrictions of freedoms of expression and movement. In addition to the charged violations, the report also enclosed a list of recommendations for North Korea’s northeast Asian neighbors, the United Nations, the United States and the international community to promote contact between themselves and North Korea.

One outcome of the COI report was the adoption of the March 28, 2014 resolution that called for the referral of North Korea’s human rights violations to an international judicial body for those responsible to be held to account and put in place new measures to monitor the human rights situation in North Korea. In light of the report’s revelations, are countries more willing to address the issue of human rights in North Korea? Have the report’s findings helped to improve human rights conditions in North Korea? How can international actors use the COI as a starting point to systematically reform the global communities’ outlook on human rights? Join us for a discussion of the human rights conditions in North Korea, the effectiveness of the UN COI report, and the future of human rights policy..

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