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The governments of China and North Korea are failing to protect
North Korean women trafficked to China. Instead of helping them,
the women are detained, forcibly repatriated and used as forced
labour, a new report from Anti-Slavery International reveals.
An Absence of Choice: The sexual exploitation of North Korean
women in China includes cases and interviews with North Korean
women, who fled famine and dire poverty to China only to be trafficked
into slavery. Lured by promises of help, food, work or shelter,
they were deceived, coerced and forced through the threat or use
of violence into marriage and prostitution.
Rather than being rescued by the Chinese authorities, trafficked
North Korea women are put in detention facilities and held in horrific
conditions before being forcibly repatriated to North Korea, where
they are sent to forced labour camps.
Leaving North Korea without permission can be punishable by death.
Yet the Chinese Government returns refugees from North Korea, even
though it is party to the United Nations Convention Relating to
the Status of Refugees, which prohibits the forced return of refugees.
"These policies make the tens of thousands of North Koreans
living irregularly in China particularly vulnerable to trafficking
and other exploitation. The Chinese Government needs to recognise
them as victims of a crime and as refugees, and accord them the
protection and assistance that is their right," the report's
author, Norma Muico of
Anti-Slavery International, said.
It is vital the Chinese Government grants humanitarian status to
all trafficked North Koreans, as well as allow the UNHCR access
to them in order to assess their circumstances on an individual
basis and seek a safe and permanent solution to their situation.
The North Korean Government needs to provide access to the UN Special
Rapporteur on North Korea to monitor human rights conditions in
the country, including conditions in detention facilities and political
prison camps. And, governments in the international community should raise the issue of protecting North Koreans in human rights discussions
with China. |
