Human rights official Marzuki Darusman claims 50,000 workers are being exploited to generate up to £1.5bn a year for the state
These people earn less than a fast food worker and are exploited not only by their government but those who employee them. Just look at the countries where they work:
Marzuki Darusman, the special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, said in a report to the UN general assembly and at a news conference on Wednesday that the workers are being used as a new source of income, with North Korea facing a “really tight financial and economic situation”.
He accused the country’s government of violating the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which bans forced labour and to which North Korea is a party. Darusman said companies hiring North Korean workers have “become complicit in an unacceptable system of forced labour”.
Darusman said more than 50,000 North Korean workers are employed in foreign countries, mainly in the mining, logging, textile and construction industries, according to various studies – and added that the number is rising.
These people earn less than a fast food worker and are exploited not only by their government but those who employee them. Just look at the countries where they work:
The vast majority are working in China and Russia, he said, but others are reportedly employed in countries including Algeria, Angola, Cambodia, Equatorial Guinea, Ethiopia, Kuwait, Libya, Malaysia, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nigeria, Oman, Poland, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates.
Darusman said civil society organisations report that these workers earn $120-$150 per month on average and are sometimes forced to work up to 20 hours a day, with only one or two rest days a month and insufficient food. Employers pay “significantly higher amounts” to the North Korean government, he claimed.
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