The International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea (ICNK) was formed on September 8, 2011. It comprises Amnesty International,

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

and the International Federation for Human Rights and has support from over 40 organizations worldwide. North Korean human rights issues with which the ICNK deals include North Korea’s political prison camp system and the repatriation and punishment of North Korean refugees.

Mission

As stated by ICNK:

ICNK was formed with the goal of establishing a UN Commission of Inquiry to investigate Crimes against Humanity in North Korea. In order to achieve this, the ICNK worked to raise public understanding and awareness of the human rights situation in North Korea.ICNK: Introduction

In 2013 the

UN Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis ...

did establish the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK with resolution 22/13, with a landmark report published in 2014.

Activities

In January 2012 ICNK sent an open letter to Kim Jong-un. In March 2012 ICNK submitted a petition to the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

to employ its special procedures mechanism to help shut down the North Korean political prison camps.

Participating Organizations

List of member organizations: * Advocates International Global Council * The Association for the Rescue of North Korea Abductees, Chiangmai * Japanese Lawyers Association for Abduction and Other Human Rights Issues in North Korea * Asian Human Rights & Humanity Association of Japan * The Society to Help Returnees to North Korea *

Simon Wiesenthal Center The Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) is a Jewish human rights organization established in 1977 by Rabbi Marvin Hier. The center is known for Holocaust research and remembrance, hunting Nazi war criminals, combating anti-Semitism, tolerance educat ...

* Prayer Service Action Love Truth for North Korea (PSALT NK) * People in Need (Czech Republic) * Odhikar * North Korea Freedom Coalition * No Fence * Network for North Korean Democracy and Human Rights (NKnet) * Life Funds for NK Refugees * Liberty in North Korea (LiNK) * Kontras * Justice 4 North Korea * Jubilee Campaign USA *

International Center for Transitional Justice The International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) was founded in 2001 as a non-profit organization dedicated to pursuing accountability for mass atrocity and human rights abuse through transitional justice mechanisms. ICTJ officially ope ...

* Human Rights in Asia *

* Han Voice * Freedom House * International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) * Democracy Network against North Korean Gulag (Free NK Gulag) * Conectas * The Committee for Human Rights in North Korea *

Christian Solidarity Worldwide Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW) is a human rights organisation which specialises in religious freedom and works on behalf of those persecuted for their Christian beliefs, persecuted for other religious belief or persecuted for lack of beli ...

(CSW) * BurmaInfo * Burma Partnership * Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances * Asia Justice and Rights (AJAR) * Amnesty International Japan * Amnesty International * Aegis Trust * Open North Korea

References

{{Reflist, refs= {{cite news , title=U.N. Panel Urges International Action on North Korean Human Rights Abuses , first=Nick , last=Cumming-Bruce , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/world/europe/un-panel-urges-action-on-north-korean-rights-abuses.html , newspaper=The New York Times , date= Sep 17, 2013 , accessdate= August 20, 2015 , page=A6 (print edition Sep 18) , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20131010090348/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/18/world/europe/un-panel-urges-action-on-north-korean-rights-abuses.html , archivedate= October 10, 2013 , url-status=live, quote=The chief human rights official at the United Nations, Navi Pillay, called on Monday for an international inquiry into human rights offenses committed by the North Korean government over many decades.
Ms. Pillay, the Geneva-based high commissioner for human rights, pointed to North Korea’s “elaborate network of political prison camps,” believed by human rights organizations to hold 200,000 prisoners. The camps not only punish people for peaceful activities, but also employ “torture and other forms of cruel and inhumane treatment, summary executions, rape, slave labor and forms of collective punishment that may amount to crimes against humanity,” she said.
(...)
“What we are trying to do is put human rights as a priority in the international debate on North Korea,” said Juliette de Rivero, Geneva director of Human Rights Watch, one of more than 40 organizations in the International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea that are backing the inquiry. “Right now it’s nearly invisible.” {{cite news, title=North Korea in the Dark , first=Benedict , last=Rogers , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/opinion/north-korea-in-the-dark.html , newspaper=The New York Times , date=January 28, 2013 , accessdate=Aug 20, 2015 , page=(print edition on January 29, 2013, in The International Herald Tribune) , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20130201011949/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/29/opinion/north-korea-in-the-dark.html , archivedate=February 1, 2013 , url-status=live {{cite news , title=U.N. Panel to Investigate Human Rights Abuses in North Korea , first=Steven, last=Erlanger , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/world/europe/un-panel-to-investigate-human-rights-abuses-in-north-korea.html , newspaper=The New York Times , date=March 21, 2013 , accessdate= August 20, 2015 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140311114216/http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/22/world/europe/un-panel-to-investigate-human-rights-abuses-in-north-korea.html , archivedate= March 11, 2014 , url-status=live {{UN doc , docid= A/HRC/25/CRP.1 , body= Human Rights Council , session= 25 , type= , resolution_number= , document_number= , title= Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , page= , pages= , date=7 February 2014 , meeting= , meetingtime= , speakername= , speakernation= , language= {{UN doc , docid= A/HRC/25/63 , body= Human Rights Council , session= 25 , type=S , resolution_number= , document_number= , title= Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea , page= , pages= , date=7 February 2014 , meeting= , meetingtime= , speakername= , speakernation= , language= {{cite news , title=United Nations Security Council Examines North Korea's Human Rights , first=Somini , last=Sengupta , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/world/asia/united-nations-security-council-examines-north-koreas-human-rights.html , newspaper=The New York Times , date= December 22, 2014 , accessdate= Aug 20, 2015 , page=A12 (print edition Dec 23) , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150418182656/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/23/world/asia/united-nations-security-council-examines-north-koreas-human-rights.html , archivedate= April 18, 2015 , url-status=live {{cite news , title=Coalition Seeks to Send North Korea to International Court Over Rights Abuses , first=Somini , last=Sengupta , url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/world/coalition-seeks-to-send-north-korea-to-international-court-over-rights-abuses.html , newspaper=The New York Times , date=October 25, 2014 , accessdate= Aug 20, 2015 , page=A6 (print edition Oct 26) , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329093956/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/26/world/coalition-seeks-to-send-north-korea-to-international-court-over-rights-abuses.html , archivedate=March 29, 2015 , url-status=live {{cite news , title= North Korea: a role for the EU on human rights , first=Agatha , last= Kratz , url=http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_north_korea_a_role_for_the_eu_on_human_rights , newspaper=

European Council on Foreign Relations The European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR) is a pan-European think tank with offices in seven European capitals. Launched in October 2007, it conducts research on European foreign and security policy and provides a meeting space for decisi ...

, location= London , date=January 6, 2016 , accessdate= Feb 27, 2015 , archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160228000514/http://www.ecfr.eu/article/commentary_north_korea_a_role_for_the_eu_on_human_rights , archivedate= February 28, 2016 , url-status=live

External links

International Coalition to Stop Crimes Against Humanity in North Korea
- Homepage of the ICNK
Committee for Human Rights in North Korea: The Hidden Gulag
- Overview of North Korean prison camps with testimonies and satellite photographs
Amnesty International: North Korea: Political Prison Camps
- Document on camp conditions (torture, executions, hunger, child labor, forced labor) in Yodok and other camps
Freedom House: Concentrations of inhumanity
– Analysis of the phenomena of repression associated with North Korea’s political labor camps
Christian Solidarity Worldwide: North Korea: A case to answer – a call to act
– Report to emphasize the urgent need to respond to mass killings, arbitrary imprisonment, torture and related international crimes North Korean democracy movements Human rights organizations based in South Korea Organizations specializing in North Korean issues Organizations established in 2011

Mission

Activities

Participating Organizations

See also

References

External links