A/ HRC/46/51 28. In recent years, a small number of victims and their families in Japan, the Republic of Korea and the United States of America have sought justice in their national courts. In the Republic of Korea, two men, former prisoners of war held by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the early 1950s, filed a civil lawsuit in 2019 against the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and General Secretary Kim Jong Un. In July 2020, a judgment was issued against the defendants (without their participation), awarding damages equivalent to $17,600 to each former prisoner of war. In August 2018, five victims of the Paradise on Earth campaign,39 four women and one man, who had escaped from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea between 2001 and 2003, filed a civil lawsuit in Japan against the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, seeking compensation equivalent to approximately $964,000 for each plaintiff for the infringement of their human rights. In a civil lawsuit brought in the United States of America by the family of Otto Warmbier, the court issued a default judgment finding the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea liable for the hostage-taking, torture and extrajudicial killing of Mr. Warmbier and awarding damages in excess of $501 million to his family. In May 2020 the court ordered three banks to disclose information on accounts holding frozen assets of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, to examine potential means of securing satisfaction of the judgment. The lack of cooperation from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea remains an obstacle in these cases. Universal jurisdiction cases in countries open to application should be regarded as potential venues for accountability. 29. Victims and civil society organizations are increasingly active in submitting petitions on the human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Numerous petitions have been submitted to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances. Some of these petitions related to abductees from the Republic of Korea during and after the Korean War and in the 11 December 1969 hijacking of Korean Air Lines flight YS-11 as well as Japanese and other foreign nationals abducted in the 1970s and 1980s. The Working Group transmitted twelve new cases to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in September 2020.40 In Japan and the Republic of Korea, victims groups, civil society organizations, research institutes have organized programs to raise awareness and demand action on human rights violations, in particular on abductions. Family groups in Japan and the Republic of Korea support each other by exchanging views among themselves as well as with families of abductees and detainees from other countries. 30. In this respect, the Special Rapporteur notes that the temporal jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court appears limited with respect to these enforced disappearances and abductions.41 However, he believes that the continuing nature of these crimes may warrant a fresh consideration with respect to the possible jurisdiction of international tribunals. Additionally, the Special Rapporteur recalls that the Commission of Inquiry noted that no such limit to temporal jurisdiction applies to the crime of imprisonment and other serious deprivations of liberty, which are often committed in connection to enforced disappearance. On this basis, the Special Rapporteur is also of the view that these crimes against humanity related to the international abductions could potentially be subjected to the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court. 31. The Special Rapporteur is convinced that in absence of immediate action on accountability, the international community should respect, protect and maintain civic space that enables victims, families, escapees and civil society organizations to continue their efforts in monitoring, documentation and advocacy, which is essential for the fight against impunity in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In the Republic of Korea, civil society organizations do not have access to the Hanawon Resettlement Support Centers for North Korean Refugees to interview escapees. It is important that civil society, not only States or the United Nations, have access to Hanawon Centers to interview recently arrived people from the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. In addition, civil society 39 40 41 12 Paradise on Earth was a campaign to promote the “return” of ethnic Koreans from 1959 to 1984, resulted in the migration of 93,340 people to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, mostly from Japan. A/HRC/WGEID/122/1. Rome Statute article 7(1) on Elements of Crimes.