UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA Population size1 Surface area1 Human Development Index2 NHRI (if applicable)3 25.61 million 121,000 km² Type of engagement Field-based structure Countries of engagement DPRK Year established 2015 Field office(s) Seoul, Republic of Korea UN partnership framework United Nations Strategic Framework 20172021 Staff as of 31 December 2018 10 Total income US$121,413 XB requirements 2018 US$234,500 Total XB expenditure US$81,300 Peace and Security (PS) Personnel Non-personnel PSC† 57% 31% 12% $46,670 $25,277 $9,353 Total RB expenditure Nonpersonnel 92% 8% $809,594 $69,862 Key OMP pillars in 2018 † Please refer to Data sources and notes on p.191. KEY PILLAR RESULTS: Accountability (A) A1 – The international community continues its efforts to hold perpetrators of crimes against humanity accountable. in the DPRK and the need for continuing discussions related to a resolution in the General Assembly’s Third Committee. With OHCHR support, critical human rights issues in the DPRK have been taken up in international fora. OHCHR strengthened its efforts towards accountability, including through the recruitment of legal staff. The Office continued to interview North Korean escapees and compile relevant laws and decrees of the DPRK criminal justice system. The Office is using a significant body of information, including interviews and expert reports that were The Office stressed the importance of the Security Council debate on human rights 260 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 PS3 – International approaches to the DPRK integrate human rights as a cross-cutting issue and recognize the centrality of human rights in the promotion of peace and security in the DPRK. US$879,456 Personnel 123 gathered by OHCHR, civil society organizations and others. A database prototype has been developed, which will be used as a repository for documented information on criminal cases in the DPRK. This will be an essential resource for future national or international accountability mechanisms. The Office supported capacity building of civil society, including through training for civil society organizations on documenting cases of crimes against humanity. The Office drafted a report on its accountability work, which will be submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2019. Spotlights: Youth OHCHR consistently raised critical human rights issues and advocated for them to be taken up in international fora. During the reporting period, OHCHR engaged with the Government of the Republic of Korea, the diplomatic community, humanitarian actors and the UNCT to highlight the importance of including human rights principles in all peace processes and humanitarian action. In March, OHCHR organized a briefing, in Seoul, for diplomats from 20 countries. As a follow-up to the briefing, bilateral meetings were held to discuss the possibilities for integrating human rights into ongoing peace talks. The Office also provided briefing papers for Executive Committee meetings, which featured a strong message about the need for the centrality of human rights in all peacebuilding and conflict resolution measures. The Office also worked closely with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK to reiterate the same messages. This sustained messaging enabled the media, civil society actors and victims groups to consistently push for the integration of human rights into peace processes. Participation (P) P4 – Human rights principles, norms and language are embraced by civil society organizations that work with the DPRK government or with DPRK escapees. Through continued engagement with civil society actors and other stakeholders, OHCHR took steps to ensure that human rights principles, norms and language were increasingly integrated into their work and that the narrative on selected human rights issues significantly improved. addition, during an international conference that was attended by youth from China, the DPRK, Germany, Japan, the Republic of Korea, Russia and the United States, a keynote speech was given on the role of youth in peacebuilding, including the peaceful resolution of conflict in the Korean peninsula. These and other initiatives were instrumental in highlighting the role of the UN in addressing human rights issues in the Korean peninsula to a broader constituency. Finally, the OHCHR field-based structure in Seoul worked with the UN Department of Political Affairs (DPA) and the UNCT to support capacity-building for national reporting to the international human rights mechanisms and the implementation of their recommendations, especially in light of the DPRK’s upcoming third UPR cycle in 2019. OHCHR strengthened its engagement with humanitarian actors based in the Republic of Korea to advocate for the application of a human rights-based approach to humanitarian action in the DPRK. For instance, on 31 October and 1 November, the Office participated in the “2018 International Conference on Humanitarian and Development Assistance to the DPRK” organized by the Korean Sharing Movement, a movement of civil society organizations promoting peace, cooperation and reconciliation on the Korean peninsula. OHCHR shared its human rights message to more than 50 humanitarian civil society organizations working on the DPRK. As a part of its efforts to reach a broader constituency, in particular young people, the Office organized a series of lectures for students at Korea University. The students received information through interactive activities about OHCHR’s mandate, the international human rights mechanisms and human rights issues in the DPRK. In Shifts: Global Constituency Prevention UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 261