'UN body should press China on NK defectors'

Aaron Rhodes, human rights activist

By Kim Se-jeong

Aaron Rhodes, 64, a human rights activist, has criticized the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for its inactivity to address North Korean human rights problems in China.

"The UNHCR is doing nothing about this problem. It'll be better being kicked out of China than staying in China without doing their job," Rhodes said in an interview.

Rhodes is a well-known figure internationally, giving a professional boost to North Korean human rights advocacy work. He is a co-founder of the Freedom Rights Project, a research project that compiles global human rights trends. Between 1993 and 2007, he was executive director of the International Helsinki Federation for Human Rights, during which he worked to address human rights challenges in the Balkans, Chechnya and Central Asia. In 2008, he was involved in the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, a project by the Netherlands-based non-governmental organization.

He was clear about how he wants to address human rights issues in China.

"Our focus is to bring pressure on China to change its policy, and to make it abide by the international law."

China is violating the United Nations Human Rights Convention 1951, which it signed to uphold, he said, by sending back defectors from North Korea. The convention bans the country where refugees reside from sending them back to their country of origin.

China, however, argues the defectors are temporary economic migrants in search of food and jobs. Personal testimonies and reports prove China wrong, Rhodes said.

Upon their return, the defectors are punished for crossing the border and often subjected to torture. Reports from survivors indicate many are sent to prison camps where they are physically abused and made to perform forced labor, often leading to their deaths.

What is even graver is that "between 70-80 percent of North Koreans who are forcibly repatriated by the Chinese are women," the activist said.

While in China, the women are commodities for human trafficking. They are sexually abused while in the custody of the Chinese in border prisons, Rhodes said. The same happens when they're sent back to North Korea. Sexual abuse is commonplace in prison camps and, if pregnant, the fetus may be forcibly aborted. If the baby is born, they're often murdered, with the mother watching.

Rhodes lays his hope on the United Nation process which will extensively review China's human rights record later this year, with the result due out in October. He plans to submit a report of policy recommendation, which he and his team members will be working on for the next few months.

"It will hopefully come to the attention of different governments, and the government will ask China questions about the policy, and urge them make recommendations to change," he said.

Rhodes said he knows it's not going to be easy but, "You have to do what's right."

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