The UN special rapporteur on North Korea's human rights situation has reportedly urged China and Russia not to repatriate North Korean escapees.

According to Radio Free Asia on Friday, Tomás Ojea Quintana made the call in a report to be submitted to the UN Human Rights Council on Monday.

The UN rapporteur called on China and Russia to adhere to the international legal principle of "non-refoulement," under which no one should be returned to a country where they face a real risk of torture or other ill-treatment.

Quintana reportedly said that North Korean escapees will face serious human rights violations if they are forcibly deported.

He estimated some 15-hundred North Korean defectors are being detained in China as illegal immigrants and they are at the risk of forcible repatriation.

China takes the position that the principle of non-refoulement did not apply to North Korean escapees because they are illegal immigrants and not refugees.