 | North Korea Must Be Held Accountable For Its Abysmal Human Rights Record United States Commission on International Religious Freedom Washington DC |
"The U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) today welcomed the UN General Assembly’s passage on December 18 of a resolution that condemns North Korea’s “ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights” and transmits a UN report on these violations to the Security Council. The UN’s annual resolution on human rights in North Korea passed by a 116-20 vote, with 53 abstentions.
“'North Korea is one of the world’s most repressive regimes, with a deplorable record on human rights and religious freedom,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF Chair. “Many have been arrested, tortured, and executed, and thousands are imprisoned in North Korea’s notorious penal labor camps, including refugees wrongly repatriated from China. The UN General Assembly acted appropriately by overwhelmingly approving a resolution that calls global attention to North Korea’s gross violation of rights.”
"The resolution recommends targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses. Further, it calls for North Korea to be referred to the International Criminal Court. Both recommendations are new additions to a resolution that the General Assembly has passed annually for nearly a decade. They are part of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s February report which details the North Korean government’s grave human rights abuses and condemns North Korea for having no “parallel in the contemporary world.” The report found “an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association...'”
“'North Korea is one of the world’s most repressive regimes, with a deplorable record on human rights and religious freedom,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, USCIRF Chair. “Many have been arrested, tortured, and executed, and thousands are imprisoned in North Korea’s notorious penal labor camps, including refugees wrongly repatriated from China. The UN General Assembly acted appropriately by overwhelmingly approving a resolution that calls global attention to North Korea’s gross violation of rights.”
"The resolution recommends targeted sanctions against those responsible for human rights abuses. Further, it calls for North Korea to be referred to the International Criminal Court. Both recommendations are new additions to a resolution that the General Assembly has passed annually for nearly a decade. They are part of the UN Commission of Inquiry’s February report which details the North Korean government’s grave human rights abuses and condemns North Korea for having no “parallel in the contemporary world.” The report found “an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association...'”
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