Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea: Green Light for Humanitarian Intervention?

Abstract

Recent UN Human Rights Council mandated commission was established in order to examine grave and systematic human rights violations by the government of North Korea. The report included evidence on violation of fundamental human rights, such as the right to life, right to food, freedom of expression and freedom from torture. Michael Kirby, Chair of the Commission, while presenting the Report to the UN Human Rights Council said: "At the end of the Second World War, so many people said 'if only we had known. If only we had known the wrongs that were done in the countries of the hostile forces. If only we had known that.' Well now the international community does know, the international community will know, there will be no excusing of failure of action because we didn’t know, we do know." Now, a publicly available comprehensive report on North Korea's violations of human rights is available, and the subsequent questions that arise are on the legality and legitimacy of possible humanitarian intervention with the objective to cease the ongoing human rights violations in North Korea. This paper will examine the key findings from the Report, as well as the likelihood of international joint intervention in North Korea and the legal framework to justify such intervention.

Keywords: North Korea, human rights, humanitarian intervention, use of force, human rights council