[ad_1]
The UN has adopted a North Korean human rights resolution that condemns human rights abuses in North Korea and calls for improvements. North Korea has pointed to widespread human rights abuses and has said it strongly opposes the resolution, which refers to the deteriorating human rights situation caused by the coronavirus. This is Taek-Sung Oh.
The president of the UN General Assembly, Volkan Bozkir, declared the adoption of a North Korean human rights resolution in a plenary session on the 16th.
[녹취: 보즈키르 의장] We first turn to draft resolution one, entitled ‘Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’. The third committee approved the draft resolution without putting it to a vote. And I understand that the assembly wishes to do the same. It is thus decided “Mr. Bozkir previously said that the third committee adopted the resolution without a vote and that the plenary session was approved in the same way.
As a result, North Korea’s Human Rights Resolution was adopted in the plenary session of the UN General Assembly for 16 consecutive years since 2005.
In particular, from 2016 to this year, it was adopted as a consensus method without voting for 5 consecutive years.
This year’s resolution on North Korea’s human rights was prepared by the European Union, and 58 countries, including the United States, Britain, Japan and Sweden, participated as joint proposals.
The resolution pointed to a wide range of human rights issues in North Korea, including torture and sexual violence, arbitrary detention, political prison camps and organized kidnapping, and restrictions on freedom of religious expression and assembly.
In particular, there were serious concerns about the adverse effects of the novel coronavirus infection and the deterioration of the human rights situation in North Korea.
The resolution noted that all restrictive measures to respond to the coronavirus must comply with international laws, such as international human rights law and related Security Council resolutions, and must be taken in a proportionate and non-discriminatory manner to the extent necessary.
He then urged North Korean authorities to take preventive and corrective measures in response to the coronavirus, and urged international humanitarian organizations to cooperate so that they can access the vulnerable and carry out support and monitoring activities that meet international standards.
He also recommended that the UN Security Council consider appropriate measures, such as referral to the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the human rights situation in North Korea and “consider additional sanctions against those most responsible.”
Jennifer Barber, special adviser to the United States delegation to the United Nations, said that when the third committee adopted North Korea’s Human Rights Resolution last month, the international community should make it clear that North Korean authorities should stop the violations and abuses of human rights through this resolution and hold the relevant parties accountable. He stressed that he delivered the message.
[녹취: 바버 특별고문(지난 11월)] “With the passage of this resolution, the international community once again sends a clear message to the DPRK regime that violations and abuses of human rights must end and those responsible must be held accountable.”Meanwhile, North Korea’s ambassador to the United Nations, Kim Seong, rebelled because he outright opposed the resolution, arguing that the EU-led resolution provokes North Korea on political grounds.
[녹취: 김성 대사] “All of the material in the draft resolution is information manufactured in the most despicable way by the Riff-Raff defectors.”The entire content of the resolution is maliciously fabricated information produced by North Korean defectors, such as “human waste.”
Ambassador Kim argued that hostile forces were simply exploiting so-called “regime change” as an excuse.
On that day, some countries, such as China and Iran, criticized politicization, selectivity and double standards, and announced that they did not participate in the adoption of the resolution by consensus.
This is Taekseong Oh, VOA News.
[ad_2]
