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	‘Unspeakable atrocities’ reported by UN-mandated human rights inquiry on DPR Korea by Michael Kirby Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea   17 September 2013   The head of the United Nations-appointed inquiry into human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) reported today that testimony heard so far by his team pointed to widespread and serious abuses, including abductions and torture, as well as “unspeakable atrocities” in detention camps.   “What we have seen and heard so far – the specificity, detail and shocking character of the personal testimony – appears without doubt to demand follow-up action by the world community, and accountability on the part of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” said Michael Kirby, chair of the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the DPRK.   Providing an oral update on the commission’s work to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, Mr. Kirby said the testimonies received during the recent public hearings in the Republic of Korea and Japan indicated a large-scale pattern of abuse that may constitute systematic and gross human rights violations in the DPRK.   According to a news release issued in Geneva, Mr. Kirby cited a host of alleged abuses, ranging from abductions, torture and a policy of inter-generational punishment to arbitrary detention in prison camps marked by deliberate starvation and “unspeakable atrocities.”   “We heard from ordinary people who faced torture and imprisonment for doing nothing more than watching foreign soap operas or holding a religious belief,” he told the 47-member Human Rights Council, which appointed the commission in March of this year.   “Women and men who exercised their human right to leave the DPRK and were forcibly repatriated spoke about their experiences of torture, sexual violence, inhumane treatment and arbitrary detention. Family members of persons abducted from the Republic of Korea and Japan described the agony they endured ever since the enforced disappearance of their loved ones at the hands of agents of the DPRK.”   "Testimony heard thus far points to widespread and serious violations in all areas," Mr Kirby told the council, to which he is due to deliver a full report next year.   He said the evidence had "given a face and voice to great human suffering."   "The commission listened to political prison camp survivors who suffered through childhoods of starvation and unspeakable atrocities, as a product of the "guilt by association" practice, punishing other generations for a family member"s perceived political views or affiliation," he said. Among the stark testimony was that from a man imprisoned from birth, who lived on rodents, lizards and grass, and witnessed the public execution of his mother and brother. Mr Kirby also heard from a woman who saw a fellow inmate forced to drown her own baby in a bucket, and from a man obliged to burn the corpses of starved inmates and scatter their ashes on fields.   Mr Kirby also spotlighted torture and sexual violence, detention for watching foreign soap operas or having religious beliefs, kidnapping citizens of South Korea and Japan, massive malnutrition, and the total control by the regime"s propaganda apparatus.   The commission, which has a one-year mandate, is tasked with investigating several alleged violations, including those concerning the right to food and those associated with prison camps; torture and inhuman treatment; arbitrary detention; discrimination; freedom of expression, movement and religion; the right to life; and enforced disappearances, including abductions of nationals to other countries.   The three-member commission has also stressed that it will investigate to what extent any violations may amount to crimes against humanity.   “As the Human Rights Council requested us to do, we will focus our inquiry on ensuring accountability, including with regard to potential crimes against humanity,” Mr. Kirby said. “We will seek to determine which state institutions and officials carry responsibility for gross human rights violations proved to have been committed.”   Mr. Kirby also noted that the commission had invited DPRK authorities to take part in the public hearings in Seoul, but received no reply. Nor has Pyongyang allowed the commission entry into DPRK to carry out its work.   “Instead,” he said, “its official news agency attacked the testimony we heard as ‘slander’ against the DPRK, put forward by ‘human scum.’ Truth is always a defence against accusations of slander. If any of the testimony on political prison camps, international abductions, torture, starvation, inter-generational punishment and so forth can be shown to be untrue, the commission invites the DPRK to produce evidence to that effect.”   The commission – which also includes Sonja Biserko, founder and president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, and Marzuki Darusman, former Attorney General of Indonesia and the current UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in DPRK – will make its final report to the Human Rights Council next March.   Prior to that, it will continue its investigation, give an oral briefing to the UN General Assembly in New York in October, and meet with a number of experts, victims and officials with knowledge of the situation in DPRK.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRC/CoIDPRK/Pages/CommissionInquiryonHRinDPRK.aspx Visit the related web page
	All States need to immediately ratify the convention on the rights of the child by Marta Santos Pais Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence Against Children   19 September 2013   United Nations officials today urged Member States that have not done so to ratify the Convention on the Rights of Child and its three Optional Protocols, stressing that this is vital to protect children from abuse and mistreatment worldwide.   “Millions of children around the globe suffer daily from violence, exploitation and abuse. Ignored by statistics and neglected by policy action they are silent victims, excluded from the public debate,” said the Secretary-General’s Special Representative on Violence against Children, Marta Santos Pais, addressing the press.   Countries will have the opportunity to ratify the Convention and its Optional Protocols at the 2013 Treaty Event, which will be held 24 – 26, and 30 September and 1 October at UN Headquarters in New York.   The Convention on the Rights of the Child is a universally agreed set of non-negotiable standards and obligations, providing protection and support for the rights of children. Its three Optional Protocols deal, respectively, with protecting children from trafficking, prostitution and child pornography; prohibiting their recruitment in armed conflict; and allowing children to bring forward their complaints to the UN if their rights are being abused.   “The Treaty Event is an opportunity for Member States to reaffirm or to express their commitment to be accountable for the rights of the child everywhere – all children under their jurisdiction,” Ms. Santos Pais told reporters during a briefing in New York. “It is also a way of recalling that ratification, while very important, is just the start of a very long process, and a continuous process of national implementation.”   The Convention is the most widely and rapidly ratified treaty in history, but has not achieved universal ratification. Currently, 193 States are party to the Convention. Somalia, South Sudan and the United States are the only Member States that have not ratified it.   The Optional Protocol on the involvement of children in armed conflict entered into force in 2002 and has been ratified by 152 countries. Twenty States have signed but not ratified it and 22 have neither signed nor ratified it.   “Every new commitment brings us closer to a world where all States agree that children belong far from the battlefield,” said the Secretary General’s Special Representative on Children on Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui, also at the press conference.   “The goal is within reach and many countries have taken the additional step to criminalize the use of children under 18 in conflict in their national legislation.”   The Protocol on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography provides is closer to universal ratification as 164 States have ratified it, and less than 30 are yet to join. The third Optional Protocol allows children to bring complaints to the UN was adopted in December 2011, and has been ratified by only six countries and signed by 37.   “Ratification and implementation of the Protocols lay the foundation for children’s protection from violence, abuse and exploitation.” said Ms. Santos Pais. “Children are key actors in this process.”   During the press briefing, Ms. Santos Pais launched a child-friendly version of the Third Optional Protocol to inform children them about their rights and prevent their victimization.   The child-friendly version was developed in consultation with children in different regions of the world and is an advocacy tool to help young people raise awareness and promote the safeguard of the rights of the child.   “This means a lot to children around the world, especially those who were born or are growing up in countries torn apart by conflict,” Ms. Zerrougui told reporters, adding that she had seen the devastating impact of conflict on children who had been recruited by armed groups in countries such as the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Iraq.   “States should take all possible measures to prevent such recruitments. That includes legislation to prohibit and criminalize recruitment of children under 18 and involve them in hostilities,” she said, adding that Governments should also provide support to help children who have experienced abuse.   http://www.unicef.org/crc/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/professionalinterest/pages/crc.aspx http://srsg.violenceagainstchildren.org/ Visit the related web page
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