By Martin Banks - 13th September 2011
The time has come for the UN to establish a commission of inquiry
Willy Fautre
The world's three largest international human rights have launched a campaign for a United Nations commission of inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity in North Korea.
The demand comes in the wake of parliamentary calls for an investigation into alleged atrocities in the north.
In July 2010, the European parliament passed a resolution calling for the establishment of a commission of inquiry, condemning the North Korean government for its "ongoing, grave, widespread and systematic human rights violations perpetrated against its own people".
The latest initiative follows a two-day conference in Tokyo on crimes against humanity in North Korea, attended by human rights activists, survivors of North Korean prison camps, diplomats and members of the Japanese Diet and the South Korean national assembly.
Among those present was Willy Fautre, of Human Rights Without Frontiers, a Brussels-based NGO.
Participants heard a video address by former South Korean president Kim Young Sam.
Three survivors of the North Korean prison camps and family members of Japanese abductees also provided their testimonies.
Other speakers included Japanese MP and former minister of state for the abduction Issue Hiroshi Nakai.
Back in Brussels, Fautre said, "The time has come for the UN to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate crimes against humanity that characterise North Korea today."
His comments were echoed by Phil Robertson, deputy director of Asia division at Human Rights Watch, who said, "We demand the world pull back the curtain on the egregious human rights violations that make the North Korean government one of the most brutal regimes on earth."
The coalition will campaign for the establishment of a UN commission of inquiry, drawing on the words of the former UN special rapporteur, Vitit Muntarbhorn, who, in his final report to the UN demanded an "end to impunity" in North Korea describing violations as "harrowing and horrific", "egregious and endemic", and "systematic and pervasive".
He urged the international community to "mobilise the totality of the UN to promote and protect human rights in the country; support processes which concretise responsibility and accountability for human rights violations, and an end to impunity".
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