Resolution calls for end to violations in Pyongyang

UNITED NATIONS - The UN General Assembly’s human rights committee unanimously adopted a resolution Tuesday against the “systematic, widespread and grave” human rights violations in North Korea, citing its reported use of torture, numerous political prison camps and the death penalty for political and religious reasons.

The resolution, which calls on North Korea to immediately put an end to all human rights violations in the country, was adopted by consensus by the committee, which includes all 193 UN member states. It now goes to the General Assembly for final approval next month, which is virtually certain.

North Korean diplomat Kim Song vehemently rejected the resolution, which was sponsored by the European Union and Japan, saying it was “politically motivated” and promoted by the United States and its followers “in their attempt to achieve their goals of undermining our system.”

All information in the resolution “is a false fabrication cooked up by some hostile nongovernmental organizations” funded by the U.S., he said.

Lithuania’s deputy UN ambassador Rita Kazragiene, who introduced the resolution, said North Korea’s positive steps in the past year, including signing the convention on the rights of people with disabilities, “do not go nearly far enough and are clearly outweighed by a general deterioration in the overall human rights situation.”

The resolution highlights “inhuman” conditions of detention, public executions, collective punishments extending up to three generations, the extensive use of forced labor, limitations on every person who wants to travel in the country or abroad and severe punishment of refugees or asylum seekers returned to North Korea.

It also expresses “very deep concern at the precarious humanitarian situation in the country, which could rapidly deteriorate” because of North Korea’s “limited resilience toward natural disasters” and government policies causing limited availability and access to food. AP