China Blocks Human Rights Organization Focused on North Korea from UN Accreditation

China has blocked a human rights organization critical of China's role in human rights abuses in North Korea, preventing the organization from having a voice in the UN. The US Committee on Human Rights in North Korea, in addition to its work on North Korean abuses, has criticized China's role in forced returns of North Korean refugees.

China is one of 19 Member States in the UN Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations which makes recommendations on granting UN status. Members also include countries that have little to no respect for freedom of speech or association and that continually hinder the operation of independent NGOs, such as Iran, Russia, Sudan, and Venezuela. Their standard operating procedure is to defer applications session after session with inappropriate, specious or repetitive questions and demands of the applicant NGO. After years of deferrals, Western states find that if they bring applications to a vote, they are simply outvoted in Committee.

China blocked the organization on February 2, 2017 by deferring consideration of their application with a question seeking additional funding and activity information. The organization had already been deferred once before in 2016.