Saturday, April 20, 2024
Government of North Korea executes its orders or intentions by its security forces which includes the law enforcement officials.
As a state, North Korea is under international obligations to ensure that its law enforcement officials carry out their duties respecting and honouring the rights of the citizens. In order to be able to discharge the duties the law enforcement officials are granted a number of powers including the use of force and firearms. Does the practice of the use of force and firearms by the North Korean law enforcement officials comply with the international human rights norms and standards particularly with respect to the protection of the rights to life and security of person?
There are allegations against the North Korean law enforcement officials that they disregard the rights of the targeted North Koreans particularly with respect to the rights to life and security of person in various locations namely border areas, detention centers and prison camps etc.. However, governments of North Korea have never accepted these allegations.
Despite the North Korea’s denial to the allegations, the UN Commission on Inquiry (COI) on the situations of human rights in North Korea revealed the truth through its report that was published in 2014.
According to paragraph 402 of COI, “former DPRK security officials indicated that officials may shoot to kill anyone trying to cross the border, a policy which dates back at least to the early 1990s and remains in place. A former SSD agent involved in border control indicated that border guards who shoot at DPRK citizens trying to flee the country would not be punished. Another former official testified about the killing of a person who illegally crossed the border in January 2011. This was also confirmed by the testimony of Kim Young-hwan, a humanitarian activist involved in operations to help those who flee the DPRK, as well as another witness, who engages in similar operations. Shooting directives appear to have been modified based on superior orders in 2010 or 2011, after DPRK agents shot and killed a number of persons on the Chinese side of the border. While DPRK agents are now ordered to take care not to harm people on the Chinese side, the basic authorization to shoot and kill those who try to flee remains in place”.
Let me see the ‘use of force’ through the lens of the provisions of international human rights norms and standards. Article 3 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) provides that “everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person”. Article 6(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR, ratified by North Korea in 1981) provides that “every human being has the inherent right to life. This right shall be protected by law. No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his life”. And article 9(1) of the ICCPR provides that “everyone has the right to liberty and security of person”.
It is pertinent to mention here the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials (“Basic Principles”) that were adopted by the Eighth UN Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders in Havana, Cuba (27 August to 7 September 1990) and were welcomed by the General Assembly of the United Nations in its resolution 45/121 of 14 December 1990. The Basic Principles have, subsequently, become a fundamental reference and guide for the countries that are willing to ensure human rights compliant use of force and firearms by law enforcements officials.
It must be noted that UN Special Rapporteur on the extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions considered the relevant principles from the ‘Basic Principles’ and set requirements ( For example, sufficient legal basis, legitimate objective, necessity and proportionality) in a report submitted to the Human Rights Council in 2014. It was stated in the report that these requirements should be posed by the domestic legal system. And the failure to meet any of these requirements would result the deprivation of life arbitrary.
Let me cite the relevant provisions from the ‘Basic Principles’. Basic Principle 1 provides that “Governments and law enforcement agencies shall adopt and implement rules and regulations on the use of force and firearms against persons by law enforcement officials.”
Basic Principle 4 provides that “Law enforcement officials, in carrying out their duty, shall, as far as possible, apply non-violent means before resorting to the use of force and firearms. They may use force and firearms only if other means remain ineffective or without any promise of achieving the intended result.”
And Basic Principle 5 provides that “Whenever the lawful use of force and firearms is unavoidable, law enforcement officials shall: (a) Exercise restraint in such use and act in proportion to the seriousness of the offence and the legitimate objective to be achieved; […].”
It is important to note that the prohibition against certain crimes, including the prohibition against torture, have already attained the norms of jus cogens. And it does mean derogation from which is not permitted, and it produces obligation erga omnes to the international community.
Finally, I would like to draw a conclusion saying that governments of North Korea have failed to bring the required legislative and administrative measures with respect to the use of force and firearms by the law enforcement officials that comply with the international human rights norms and standards.
The writer is a Barrister-at-Law, human rights activist and an advocate at the Supreme Court of Bangladesh
