The UN is set to release a detailed report on human rights violations
in North Korea that will include the testimonies gathered by Amnesty
International, the UK-based rights organisation. The testimonies include powerful and disturbing accounts that tell of
torture, rape and murder inside the country's labour camps where
political prisoners are held.
The UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea was set
up last March to begin building a case for possible criminal
prosecution. "This may actually be the best chance we've had in a long time to
raise the profile, to get more attention to the grave situation inside
North Korea and to actually put pressure on the government at the UN and
by other governments to make change on the ground," Roseann Rife, East
Asia research director at Amnesty International, told Al Jazeera on
Sunday. However, defectors from the country and experts are deeply sceptical
the exercise will have any effect on the North Korean regime as any
attempt to follow up after the final report is issued on Monday is
likely to be blocked by China. North Korea denies crimes against humanity are taking place in the
country and labels any criticism of its rights record as a US-led
conspiracy.
'Unspeakable atrocities'
China, the North's major ally and main benefactor, stands ready to
veto any attempt to mobilise the UN Security Council to open an
investigation against North Korea, a non-signatory to the International
Criminal Court. "Nobody is as naive to think that this could mean change overnight,
but it has to be this increased pressure, this ongoing look at and
shining the light on what's going on inside North Korea that will
eventually have an impact," Amnesty International's Rife said.
Michael Kirby, a former chief justice of Australia who chairs the
independent inquiry, said after preliminary findings last year that
inmates in North Korea's prison camps suffered "unspeakable atrocities",
comparable with Nazi abuses uncovered after World War II. More than 200,000 people are believed to be held in North Korean prison camps, according to independent estimates. The UN panel has worked to bring new attention to the allegations of
horror at North Korea's labour camps with evidence and testimony from
exiles, including camp survivors, in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington
but has failed to gain access to North Korea. After more than two years in power, North Korean leader Kim Jong-un
shows no signs of changing the iron-fisted rule of his predecessors,
forging ahead with tough policies and ordering the execution of his
powerful uncle following a public purge.
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