UN unanimously condemns NK human rights situation

On Nov. 27 (local time), the third committee of the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution expressing concern about the human rights situation in North Korea. This was the first time such a resolution was passed by consensus, without a vote being held.

The fact that the resolution was passed without a vote indicates that there are few in the international community who doubt the severity of the human rights situation in the North.

The resolution expressed concerns about torture, illegal and arbitrary detention, concentration camps for political prisoners, punishing the relatives of criminals, restriction of freedom of expression and movement, and human rights violations of women, children, and other vulnerable members of society.

It also urged the North to respect the rights of defectors and to refrain from forcibly repatriating them, while expressing the hope that the suspended reunions between separated families with members in North and South Korea might resume. In addition to the content of last year’s resolution, this year’s resolution offered a negative assessment of the worsening human rights situation in the North and stated that serious human rights violations are taking place at concentration camps for political prisoners.

In response to this, North Korea denied all of the allegations, dismissing the resolution as “political terrorism.” Each year since 2005, the resolution on North Korean human rights had been brought to the floor of the UN General Assembly and passed by a vote. This is the first time it was carried by consensus. Consensus, which refers to a decision-making method that doesn’t involve voting, is different from a unanimous decision, since individual countries are able abstain from consensus. North Korea, China, Cuba, and Venezuela were among the countries that declined to participate in the consensus on this resolution. Last year, the resolution was carried with 112 in favor, 16 opposing, and 55 abstaining.

Each year, the European Union and Japan take the lead in the North Korea human rights resolution, with more than fifty countries participating as joint-sponsors, including South Korea and the US. The resolution that was just carried will be officially brought to the floor of the UN General Assembly in December.

(2012-11-29/hani)