Worldwide Save North Korean Refugees Day Slated for Friday, September 22nd:
Where ever you are in the world,you can take part! We are recruiting NOW for city coordinators and solidarity city coordinators to plan action on behalf of the North Korean refugees on that date.
Why Should We Care and Why in September? Everything the defectors told us during North Korean Freedom Week 2017 is proving true. The situation for North Korean refugees is worse than ever before. There is nothing that Kim Jong Un fears more than the PEOPLE of North Korea who are the ones who have educated us about the horrible suffering in the DPRK. Kim will do everything in his power to prevent their escape and China's communist government will comply with his wishes despite China's international treaty obligations. Just recently, a family of five committed suicide rather than face repatriation to North Korea In this case, a senior member of the North Korea's Worker's Party with his wife, son and two daughters begged the Chinese security forces not to force them back to North Korea. The World Tribune reported: the Chinese police instead followed an order from Beijing to escort them with heavily armed security guards thousands of miles away to the northeastern province of Liaoning which borders North Korea. Fearing certain torture and imprisonment and possible execution, the family committed suicide by taking poison.
The defectors have repeatedly told us about the close cooperation between the Chinese and the North Korea security forces.
What the Chinese authorities are doing is inhumane, barbaric and illegal. It is a violation of international law as China is a signatory to the refugee convention which it signed in September of 1982 (The People's Republic of China signed the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol on September 24, 1982.)
Consider that the Chinese government refuses to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees any access to these refugees but gives free reign to the DPRK's Ministry of State Security agents to hunt down refugees and to murder those who try to help them. Even Chinese citizens have been jailed and murdered for helping North Korean refugees.
So, where in the world will you be Friday, September 22nd? Will you take a stand for these men, women and children whose only crime was to try to live a better life? Here's how you can participate - two possible ways. We will provide you anything you need to take part.
Be a City Coordinator: If you live in a city with a Chinese consulate, the role of the city coordinator is simple: deliver a petition on Friday, September 22nd to the Chinese embassy or consulate calling on the PRC to stop repatriating North Korean refugees. You can plan any additional activity you wish. For example, here in Washington DC we also hold a candlelight vigil and a demonstration. It is totally up to the city coordinator.
Be a Solidarity City Coordinator: Solidarity city coordinators are in cities with no Chinese consulate but who wish to take action for North Korean refugees. You could host a film screening, a prayer vigil, or any event to raise awareness about this issue and raise funds for organizations that rescue North Korean refugees.
Last year 24 cities worldwide took part in Save North Korean Refugees Day from Pretoria, South Africa to San Francisco, California, from Seoul, South Korea, to Paris, France. For inspiration, you can see the full report of last year's Save North Korea Refugees Day on our website at www.nkfreedom.org. If you are interested in being a part of SNKRD please email me here