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On March 14th, PSCORE co-hosted its own side event entitled “Human Rights Abuses in North Korea” at the 37th Human Rights Council session. 

PSCORE member Bada started off the event by discussing the prevalence of child labor abuse, one of the major human rights abuses in North Korea. He was then followed by North Korean defector, Joy, who compared child labor in rural and urban areas. PSCORE’s Young-Il addressed the current living situation in the country following the UN sanctions. Thereafter, Kiri Kankhwende from Christian Solidarity Worldwide, shared information on CWS’ latest report “Movies, Markets and Mass Surveillance”. Param-Preet Singh from Human Rights Watch ended the panel by discussing issues of accountability. The side event sparked great interest in the human rights situation in North Korea and we hope that it was able to shed light on the many accounts of corruption and exploitation occurring in the country. 

 This was the final PSCORE participation at this year’s UNHRC session. We were honored to be able to attend and hope that our efforts will result in positive development in addressing the human rights abuses in North Korea. 

On March 14th, PSCORE co-hosted its own side event entitled “Human Rights Abuses in North Korea” at the 37th Human Rights Council session. 

PSCORE member Bada started off the event by discussing the prevalence of child labor abuse, one of the major human rights abuses in North Korea. He was then followed by North Korean defector, Joy, who compared child labor in rural and urban areas. PSCORE’s Young-Il addressed the current living situation in the country following the UN sanctions. Thereafter, Kiri Kankhwende from Christian Solidarity Worldwide, shared information on CWS’ latest report “Movies, Markets and Mass Surveillance”. Param-Preet Singh from Human Rights Watch ended the panel by discussing issues of accountability. The side event sparked great interest in the human rights situation in North Korea and we hope that it was able to shed light on the many accounts of corruption and exploitation occuring in the country. 

North Korea has ratified five human rights treaties: the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), though in some cases (such as the ICCPR and ICESCR) North Korea’s state report is more than a decade overdue.

This was the final PSCORE participation at this year’s UNHRC session. We were honored to be able to attend and hope that our efforts will result in positive development in addressing the human rights abuses in North Korea.