UN to investigate 'human rights violations' in DPRK
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E-mail Xinhua, March 22, 2013
The United Nations Human Rights Council decided Thursday to establish an inquiry commission to investigate the "systematic, widespread and grave violation of human rights" in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK).
It will probe into "the violation of the right to food, the violations associated with prison camps, torture and inhuman treatment, arbitrary detention, discrimination, violations of freedom of expression, violations of the right to life, violations of freedom of movement, and enforced disappearances," said a resolution adopted by the council by consensus.
So Se Pyong, DPRK's Permanent Representative to the UN Office at Geneva, denounced the draft as "an instrument that serves the political purposes of the hostile forces in their attempt to discredit the image of the DPRK."
The Human Rights Council also decided at its 22nd session to extend the mandate of Marzuki Darusman, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, for one year.
The resolution urged DPRK government to cooperate fully with the Special Rapporteur and the commission of inquiry, and to permit them and their staff unrestricted access to visit the country and to provide them with all information necessary to enable them to fulfill their mandates.
The commission was requested to present an oral update to the Human Rights Council at its 24th session and a written report to the council at its 25th session.
The tenure of the commission of inquiry, comprising three members including the Special Rapporteur, will be one year, according to the resolution.
