UN committee alarmed by 'experiments on disabled' in North Korea

By AFP | 2025-09-09

A United Nations committee said on September 3 that there were credible reports that North Korea was conducting medical experiments on disabled people, performing forced sterilizations and killing handicapped babies.

The UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities said such experiments were reportedly being carried out without free and informed consent in pediatric institutions and detention facilities.

"Credible reports indicate that medical and scientific experiments are conducted on persons with psychosocial disabilities and/or intellectual disabilities," the committee said.

It voiced alarm about reports of women with disabilities being subjected to forced sterilization and forced abortion.

"The committee is deeply concerned about credible reports of infanticide of children with disabilities, including accounts of killings carried out in medical facilities with official consent," it said.

Committee member Mara Gabrilli told reporters they had also heard reports of people with disabilities being used for clinical trials without consent.

She said they had urged Pyongyang to immediately criminalize all such experiments, ensure independent oversight of institutions and establish mechanisms to provide redress.

"At the heart of this issue is a reminder that persons with disabilities are not objects of treatment or experimentation but equal human beings... entitled to bodily integrity, autonomy and respect," she said.

'Degrading treatment'

The UN committee's report on the notoriously closed country was based on information from people who fled the secretive state, from the UN special rapporteur on disability rights who visited in 2017, plus confidential reports.

Gabrilli lamented that North Korea did not provide the committee with official data, and that when its concerns were put to Pyongyang, "the state said that it was a lie."

The committee said North Korea's constitution did not explicitly prohibit discrimination based on disability, and denial of reasonable accommodation was not recognized as discrimination.

It also cited persistent stigma, negative societal attitudes and a two-tiered approach whereby veterans with physical impairments receive special treatment while other people with disabilities are excluded from services.

"The committee is concerned that persons with disabilities in detention are subjected to degrading treatment, including solitary confinement for perceived disobedience or 'non-productivity,'" the report said.

The committee recommended that Pyongyang "take effective measures to prevent instances of torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment of persons with disabilities."

It should also "prohibit all medical and scientific experiments on persons with disabilities."