Source: http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/article ... d-5&rpc=92
Mon Oct 30, 2006 12:42 AM GMT
By Arshad Mohammed
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - North Korea has committed "crimes against humanity" against its own people according to an independent report published on Monday that made a long-shot appeal for the U.N. Security Council to deal with the issue.
Released after North Korea's October 9 nuclear test, the report describes Pyongyang's brutal treatment of its citizens, from the beatings of pregnant women to force miscarriages to the abduction, torture and execution of political prisoners.
Commissioned by Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel, former Czech president Vaclav Havel and former Norwegian Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik, the paper seeks to spotlight rights abuses that have been previously reported but are often overshadowed by concern about North Korea's nuclear ambitions.
"It is clear that (North Korean leader) Kim Jong-il and the North Korean government are actively committing crimes against humanity," they said in a letter introducing the report, which was prepared by the non-profit, independent U.S. Committee for Human Rights in North Korea and by the DLA Piper law firm.
"We strongly urge the U.N. Security Council to take up the situation of North Korea. Protecting the people of North Korea requires nothing less," they added.
An official at the North Korean mission to the United Nations declined comment on the report and repeated North Korea's position that it does not violate human rights.
Foreign policy analysts praised the report for highlighting an issue that often gets short shrift amid concerns about North Korea's nuclear and missile programs but they said the chances of the Security Council acting on it were slim.
Among other reasons, they noted the council has already passed two resolutions imposing sanctions on North Korea in the last four months, the first following its July 5 ballistic missile tests and the second after this month's nuclear test. Continued...
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