An association of civic groups on Wednesday welcomed the South Korean Government’s recommendation at a United Nations review session.
This included urging China to protect the human rights of North Korean defectors in the country.
The South Korean Ambassador to the UN Office, Yun Seong-deok, in Geneva on Tuesday, called on Beijing to provide North Korean defectors with the required protections and humanitarian support.
He said the call at China’s Fourth Universal Periodic Review (UPR) held under the support of the United Nations Human Rights Council.
This marked the first time for South Korea to raise the human rights issue at the UN peer-review process against China.
The UPR is a mechanism that called for a UN member-state to go through a peer review of its human rights record every 4 to 5 years.
The NGO Council for North Korean Human Rights, association of 61 rights groups in South Korea and abroad, welcomed the move and called on China to swiftly implement the recommendation.
The organisation said South Korea had put forward to international community and China, a diplomatic stance denouncing China’s disregard for international norms, urging China to respect the principle of non-refoulement.
This guaranteed that no one should be returned to a country where they would face the risk of persecution.
As Pyongyang’s key ally, China does not recognise North Korean defectors as refugees, they regularly repatriated them to their home country where they could face harsh punishment.
As at last year, South Korean human rights groups said China forcibly sent hundreds of North Korean defectors from northeastern border regions back to the North.
The South Korean government had confirmed the repatriation did take place, without specifying the number of those who were repatriated. (Yonhap/NAN
