condemning its human rights record, BosNewsLife monitored Monday, November 20.
On Friday, November 17, the so-called ‘Third Committee’ of that UN body adopted its second resolution condemning the Communist nation’s human rights violations with a vote of 91 in favor, 21 against and 60 abstentions.
"The resolution, which expressed more robust criticism than last year’s text, not only attracted more votes" than previously, "but also more sponsors, with the number rising from 45 to 52," noted Christian Solidarity Worldwide (CSW).
It comes as Christians from around the world plan to hold massive protests December 2 in at least 14 countries against China’s policy of deporting North Korean refugees back to their homeland where they reportedly face detention, torture and in some cases death. About 200,000 North Koreans, many of them Christians, are held in the country’s notorious slave labor camps for allegedly undermining the regime, according to estimates by human rights groups.
North Korea’s Stalinist system of carrying out Communism is based on "total devotion" of the individual to an ideology promoted by the late leader Kim Il Sung and his successor and son, Kim Jong Il, according to observers who visited the isolated nation
DETENTION AND EXECUTION
Among the many alleged human rights abuses addressed in the resolution are the use of torture, execution, arbitrary detention, violence against women, including forced abortions, infanticide, severe repression of freedoms of religion, expression, assembly and association and harsh punishments for leaving the country. The issue of North Korea ’s abduction of foreign nationals also attracts international concern, CSW noted.
CSW said it was pleased that South Korea in voted in favor of the UN resolution, "marking a dramatic departure from past practice."
South Korea was absent for the first resolution on human rights in North Korea at the Commission on Human Rights in 2003 and subsequently abstained at the next two resolutions before the Commission in 2004 and 2005 and the first resolution before the General Assembly in 2005.
South Korean reportedly said it voted for Friday’s UN resolution because there was "an even greater need to focus on the human rights situation in [North Korea] because of its recent nuclear test."
HUMAN RIGHTS CONCERNS
CSW recalled that the appointment of former South Korean Foreign Minister Ban Ki Moon as UN Secretary General-designate has been met with calls for him “to robustly address the particularly grave human rights concerns in North Korea." The tabled resolution takes a new step in requesting him to submit a comprehensive report on the situation in North Korea .
"CSW very much welcomes the broad international censure of North Korea ’s human rights abuses. While the eyes of the world have been focused of late on the threat North Korea ’s leaders pose to the international community, it is critical that we address the very real and present suffering of those living under their daily control," said CSW’s International Advocate, Elizabeth Batha.
"North Korea must be left in no doubt about the resolve of the international community to see an end to its atrocities against its own people," Batha added. (With BosNewLife Research and reports from the region)
