International human rights foundation Global Rights Compliance recently released a report revealing first-hand testimonies from North Koreans in Russia, exploited as part of a programme which has seen 100,000-workers sent overseas in a state-sponsored labour programme operating across 40 countries.
Based on testimonies provided by 21 North Koreans currently working on construction sites across three Russian cities, the report has identified that all eleven of the International Labour Organisation’s warning signs of forced labour were present across the victim statements, revealing an oppressive pattern of control, abuse and coercion.
Some workers are forced to work up to 16 hours per day, with some working 364 days in a year on 10 USD per month, while living in unheated, overcrowded containers infested with cockroaches. A significant proportion of the workers interviewed were unaware of which Russian company they were working for, in order to evade the UN sanctions the companies are violating by employing North Korean workers, according to the report.
The Communication Group plc supported GRC with a tailored media campaign focusing on the report launch, securing online and print coverage in other major UK, US, European, Australian and Asian publications, including The Times, The Independent, Fox News, ABC Radio National and Deutsche Welle’s ‘Inside Europe’ podcast, among others.
