PRESS CONFERENCE ON HUMAN RIGHTS IN DEMOCRATIC PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF KOREA

The human rights situation in the Democratic Peoples Republic of Korea was extremely grim, particularly for women, children and the disabled, Vitit Muntarbhorn, Special Rapporteur on that issue, said at a Headquarters press conference this afternoon.

Impacting heavily on those groups was the rise in hunger, which had been exacerbated by devastating floods in July and August 2006, he said.  In addition, food aid had become “ultra-complicated” by the reluctance of donors to contribute, following the country’s testing of missiles and owing to limited access by humanitarian monitors.

“It is the human element of these groups that is the saddest,” said Mr. Muntarbhorn, whose mandate had been transferred from the old Human Rights Commission to the successor, the Human Rights Council, in Geneva.  In New York to report to the General Assembly, he had made a statement to that body’s Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on Friday.

Responding to questions, he explained that the food crisis that had begun in the mid 1990s had drawn a large-scale response by the World Food Programme (WFP), targeting more than 6 million people.   But after WFP’s “wings were clipped” by Pyongyang last year, aid had been reduced to a trickle, with few receiving any in 2006, beyond the 13,000 people reached after the flooding.

Continuing to describe the unfortunate situation of vulnerable groups, he said he had been shocked, in researching his latest report, to discover that many disabled persons, particularly those suffering from mental illnesses, were locked up in wards and jails.  Laws had been passed that would ameliorate that situation, but due to the tightly closed system, implementation of changes had been extremely slow and there had been no improvement in the political rights covered extensively in previous reports.

The record was equally poor in the areas of the right to security, humane treatment, non-discrimination and access to justice, he said.  There had also been little progress in gaining the release of abducted foreigners, who included nationals of the Republic of Korea, Thailand and Japan.

In the area of refugee and asylum rights, he noted that his mandate allowed him to discuss only the causes of refugee outflows from the country.  In addition to political refugees, those who had left due to hunger were subject to punishment, whether they returned forcibly or voluntarily.

The steps that the Government must take to remedy the situation were already clear in the human rights treaties to which it was a party, he said.  Those instruments included the International Covenants on Civil and Political Rights and on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

Reforms that would have the greatest affect on the complete rights situation were in the area of the rule of law, such as the creation of an independent judiciary and observance of the rights of accused persons, he added.

Regarding hunger, he stressed the importance of detaching humanitarian considerations from political concerns.  Food was still very much needed, but it was crucial that such aid be monitored within the country and that the Government be held accountable for it reaching the targeted population.  The Government was also ultimately accountable for feeding its people and it was regrettable that such a high percentage of the national budget was devoted to the military.

Asked if the latest Security Council resolution imposing sanctions on the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea following its nuclear test would negatively impact the humanitarian situation, he said sanctions were outside his mandate.  In any case, there were provisions dealing with humanitarian concerns, and the situation depended on whether or not the Government abided by its commitments.

In reply to a question as to whether the Government would have the will to abide by such commitments, he said the entrée was through the treaties that the Government had signed.  Within the past year, for example, it had invited the Committee on the Rights of the Child into the country and had testified before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women.  In addition, some United Nations agencies were still present in the country and some States retained influence in Pyongyang.

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For information media • not an official record