#HumanRightsWithoutFrontiers – Exploitation of #NorthKorea workers in #Poland

Welcome to the second in our regular series discussing human rights, brought to you in partnership with Human Rights without Frontiers. In this programme we are looking at the exploitation of North Korean Workers in Poland. 

A film dealing with the issue was screened at an event organized within the European Parliament by MEP Laszlo Tökes and Human Rights Without Frontiers.

The film, called Dollar Heroes, examines a practice that goes on, despite UN and EU sanctions that prohibit the hiring of any workforce from North Korea. With the complicity of private companies and Polish state agencies, North Korean workers continue to work in Poland and to be exploited by Pyongyang, left only with a personal income of less than $150 per month.

The issue has been actively pursued by Human Rights Without Frontiers.   On 19 September, the NGO made a public statement at the Human Dimension Implementation Meeting (HDIM), held in Warsaw, of the OSCE’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, asking the Polish delegation to the OSCE: “How many North Korean Workers are currently working in Poland, and how many work visas have been issued since the last HDIM meeting?”

Poland’s official reply contained conflicting statistics

Please join us again next month when we will again be looking at other issues affecting the universal and equal application of human rights for all people, regardless of nationality, gender, racial or ethnic origin, religion, language, or any other classification.

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