While global attention on North Korean human rights issues has waned in the wake of other urgent global crises, the human rights situation in North Korea has continued to deteriorate, especially during and after the pandemic. Collaboration on North Korean education is crucial in this environment to raise awareness of North Korean human rights issues; however, varying priorities and realities often make organic cooperation difficult between civil society organizations (CSOs). Organizations often compete for the same limited funds, have generational gaps, and remain in their research and advocacy or content production silos, which sometimes leads to limited messaging reach and synergy between various North Korean human rights organizations. In response, NDI facilitated a year-long joint advocacy working group to effectively and collaboratively push back against the Kim Jong-un regime’s intensifying control over its citizens.

Education rights is a topic that can serve as a catalyst for change. It not only has deep implications for individual rights and critical thinking, but it can also be used as an opportunity to address other pressing human rights matters affecting vulnerable groups, such as children and women, the prevalence of forced labor, and the discriminatory class system imposed by the regime. Education is a fundamental human right and the critical underpinning of any free and democratic system. With NDI’s support, five North Korean local human rights organizations – Daily NK, NKnet, NAUH, SR Production, and Unification Academy – worked together to research and produce a joint report, conduct online and offline awareness-building campaigns, and produce documentary videos to shed light on North Korea’s unequal access to education. The report, “A Human Rights Challenge in Access to Education in North Korea: Contradiction between Laws and Reality,” analyzed data collected during the COVID-19 pandemic through an in-depth survey of defectors and those in North Korea. 

The joint advocacy initiative culminated in a conference held in November 2023 where NDI and the working group members highlighted the findings and the intertwined nature of human rights issues embedded within the education system, such as children’s rights, forced child labor, women’s rights, and the social classification system. In addition, the report revealed the evident contradiction between laws and reality, despite the regime’s adoption of legislation and policies that guarantee free and equal access to education. Lastly, the report explored ways to improve education rights and access to education through recommendations to the Kim regime and the international community.

Findings from the report became the foundation for the online and offline campaigns, as well as the documentary videos produced for North Korean citizens. To urge international stakeholders to voice their concerns about the issue of unequal access to education in North Korea, NDI hosted a private briefing with representatives from a number of embassies and shared the findings of the report. In addition, the findings of the report were submitted as inputs for the UN Special Rapporteur’s report to the 55th session of the Human Rights Council in March 2024. The report was also submitted to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) as well as the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

The joint advocacy working group created a successful model for future collaboration and strategic advocacy on North Korean human rights issues, whereby each activity component is layered on top of each other for amplified synergy. Factors that led to success included the joint selection process of the advocacy topic, the unique contribution from each working group member without overlapping responsibilities, as well as having a single interlocutor like NDI for cohesion and communication. It also created a platform for advocacy, research, and media organizations to work together to produce evidence-based research and content. Building off this model, NDI will facilitate the second joint advocacy working group in the coming year.

Authors: Jinmi Kim, Program Officer, Korea; Priscilla Yoon, Program Associate, East Asia-Pacific 

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NDI is a non-profit, non-partisan, non-governmental organization that works in partnership around the world to strengthen and safeguard democratic institutions, processes, norms and values to secure a better quality of life for all. NDI envisions a world where democracy and freedom prevail, with dignity for all.