South Korea: Submission on discrimination against North Korean escapees

27/01/2025
FIDH at the UN
© FIDH

On 27 January 2025, the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) made a submission to the United Nations (UN) Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD), ahead of the preparation of the list of themes for South Korea, during its 115th Session (22 April - 9 May 2025) in Geneva, Switzerland. The list of themes is a document that contains key concerns and questions that the CERD will transmit to the South Korean government prior to the actual review session, the date of which has not yet been set.

27 January 2025. This submission, jointly prepared with the Transitional Justice Working Group (TJWG), raises the issue of the South Korean government’s treatment of North Korean escapees, which constitutes a form of discrimination based on descent and national origin under Article 1.1. of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).

Because the South Korean Constitution claims territorial sovereignty over the entirety of the Korean peninsula, including North Korea, South Korea considers those living in North Korea as its own citizens and extend protection to the North Koreans who escape from North Korea. As of January 2025, more than 34,000 North Korean escapees (i.e. those who have escaped from North Korea since the 1953 Korean War armistice agreement) have arrived in South Korea.

North Korean escapees face social discrimination and bias in South Korea in employment, education, and even marriage.

Read the submission here.

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