North Korea: The right to food and monitoring human rights - Information sheet

Index Number: ASA 24/001/2009
Date Published: 2 August 2009
Categories: North Korea

Nearly a million people have died because of acute food shortages since the mid-1990s, and millions more, especially children and the elderly, suffer from chronic malnutrition. The North Korean government is exacerbating people's suffering by impeding UN and humanitarian organizations' relief efforts. The North Korean government refuses to recognize, or grant access to, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea despite international concerns and repeated UN resolutions. This information sheet urges the government of North Korea to take steps to remedy both matters.