China's abuses also highlighted

Last week (October 22) saw China's second review at the Human Rights Council. Under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), the human rights record of each country is reviewed by member states and NGOs. To read the UN's own records of the proceedings, click here.

Life Funds for North Korean Refugees was one of only two NGOs to raise China's human rights abuses vis-a-vis North Korean refugees (the other being Human Rights Without Frontiers).

Despite being a signatory to numerous human rights conventions, China continues to forcibly repatriate North Korean refugees, a flagrant violation of international human rights law. North Koreans leaving their own country face harsh punishment if returned to North Korea, which is why Life Funds continues to call on the Chinese government to recognize them as refugees sur place and grant them safe passage to a third country.