General Assembly’s human rights committee approved the resolution, sponsored by the EU and Japan
A key U. N. committee adopted a resolution Thursday condemning North Korea’s “longstanding and ongoing systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights” and strongly urging its government to immediately end the abuses.
The General Assembly’s human rights committee approved the resolution by consensus after Sudan failed in an attempt to delete a provision encouraging the Security Council to consider referring North Korea to the International Criminal Court.
The resolution, co-sponsored by the European Union and Japan, is certain to be approved by the 193-member assembly in December. Sudan, China and Cuba told the meeting that they “disassociated” themselves from the measure.
The resolution expresses deep concern “at the grave human rights situation, the pervasive culture of impunity and the lack of accountability for human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” the country’s official name.
The resolution expressed “very serious concern” at persistent reports of rights violations, including findings of the U. N. commission of inquiry on North Korea in 2014. It cited torture, “inhuman conditions of detention,” rape, public executions, the death penalty for political and religious reasons, political prison camps for “a vast number of persons” and pervasive restrictions on freedom of thought, religion, expression, assembly and movement.
The resolution “acknowledges” the commission’s finding that the testimony and information it gathered “provide reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the state for decades and by institutions under the effective control of its leadership.
