Born a prisoner in North Korea

North Korea can no longer deny the undeniable

200,000 prisoners are currently detained in secret prison camps in North Korea.
 

Chairman Kim Jong-il and the North Korean government deny the existence of these camps but satellite imagery proves their existence.
 

According to the tradition of yeon-jwa-je (guilt by association), up to three generations of one family can be held simply because a family member listened to South Korean radio, or tried to cross the border.
 

Giving to Amnesty International today can help us hold the North Korean Government to account and help the next generation in North Korea.

Your donation will help ensure our message is sent to Kim Jong-il and support all our campaigns defending human rights worldwide.Children of prisoners that are born in the camps are held as prisoners for life. Amnesty believes that nobody should be born a prisoner. Action is desperately needed to bring these camps to an end.
 

Prisoners face extreme torture. They can be immersed in water with a plastic bag tied over their head. Or strung up as an 'airplane' with their hands and feet tied behind them as they are beaten. This merciless treatment is nothing new. The camps have been around since before Amnesty International began. Yet Kim Jong-il and the North Korean government have repeatedly denied their existence.

With your help, Amnesty International will demand that North Korea acknowledge the existence of these camps, then close them and release all prisoners of conscience. Your support is vital.
 

Amnesty International is determined to bring these atrocities to light. By making a donation today, you can help get the message directly to Kim Jong-il.

Recent comments from anonymous supporters of this appeal:

"This donation is to support Amnesty in its efforts to expose the cruel and inhumane treatment of prisoners and their families in North Korea. I hope that with international pressure such governments will either be shamed into stopping such treatment or it will become politically very difficult for them to carry on doing so.

Thank you for bringing this injustice to my attention, and for your continued work to expose such human rights abuses worldwide. You have my undying respect.

This is horrendous. I don't know what you can possibly do to end it, but if my money makes even the slightest difference at all then it's the best return on investment I've ever had."