Report finds "unspeakable atrocities" in North Korea, but UN Council poised to adopt 5x more condemnations of Israel than DPRK

On February 17, 2014 the UN released the "Report of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea." The Commission, established on March 21, 2013, was barred from visiting North Korea and held public hearings in Tokyo, London, San Francisco and Seoul, South Korea.

The UN report documents "unspeakable atrocities" in North Korea, including murdering babies born to pregnant women caught fleeing sexual violence, and political victims forced to catch snakes and mice to feed starving babies.

Among the "systematic, widespread and gross human rights violations" the Commission found to have been committed:

- arbitrary detention, torture, executions and enforced disappearance to political prison camps;
- violations of the freedoms of thought, expression and religion;
- discrimination on the basis of State-assigned social class, gender, and disability;
- violations of the freedom of movement and residence, including the right to leave one's own country;
- violations of the right to food and related aspects of the right to life ; and
- enforced disappearance of persons from other countries, including through international abductions.

Further, in light of "the gravity, scale and level of organization" of these violations the Commission determined that crimes against humanity have been and are "committed by officials pursuant to policies established at the highest level entailing extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation."

Crimes against humanity target first and foremost inmates in political prison camps, political prisoners, persons who try to flee North Korea ("in particular persons forcibly repatriated by China"), Christians and other religious believers, and other people accused of "subversive influences" like importing foreign movies or having contact with nationals of the Republic of Korea.

The report identifies the main perpetrators of human rights violations and crimes against humanity as "officials of the State Security Department, the Ministry of People's Security, the Korean People's Army, the Office of the Public Prosecutor, the judiciary and the Workers' Party of Korea" which are acting under "the effective control of the leadership organs of the Workers' Party of Korea, the National Defence Commission and the Supreme Leader of the DPRK." The Commission points out that "the gravity, scale and nature of the violations" committed by North Korea reveal a "state that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world" and which "seeks to dominate every aspect of its citizens' live".

The report will be presented and discussed at the UN Human Rights Council on March 17, 2014 during its 25th session in Geneva.

The UN Commission of Inquiry recommends that North Korea be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC). North Korean defectors, however, are "deeply skeptical" that the UN report will lead to North Korea – who hasn't signed the Rome Statute - coming under investigation by the ICC. They are, unfortunately, right. The ICC referral in this case requires the support of the UN Security Council, where China, North Korea's traditional ally, would almost certainly veto action. In fact, the UN report found that China is complicit in human rights abuses in North Korea because it pursues "a rigorous policy of forcibly repatriating" North Korean citizens who cross the border illegally despite the gross human rights violations awaiting them in North Korea. According to the UN report, North Korea "systematically subject persons repatriated by China to persecution, torture, prolonged arbitrary detention and...sexual violence."

Furthermore, the UN Council of Human Rights is expected at this session to adopt 5 times as many resolutions condemning Israel than North Korea.