AI-North Korea:UN vote a crucial step to ensure perpetrators of crimes against humanity face justice
A key UN vote has sent a clear message to the North Korean government that those responsible for crimes against humanity must face justice, Amnesty International said.
On Tuesday, the UN General Assembly Third Committee in New York passed a resolution condemning North Korea for systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations, including crimes against humanity, that continue to be committed in the country.
“UN Member States have today sent an unequivocal message to the North Korean government that those responsible for crimes against humanity in the country must face justice," said Nicole Bjerler, Amnesty International’s representative at the UN in New York.
“This is a landmark resolution in which the international community makes clear it stands with the victims of human rights violations in North Korea, where the gravity and nature of the abuses are without parallel in the modern world.
http://www.amnesty.org./en/news/north-korea-un-vote-crucial-step-ensure-perpetrators-crimes-against-humanity-face-justice-2014-
The response from North Korea:
North Korea has threatened to conduct a nuclear test in response to a United Nations move towards a probe into the country's human rights violations. Its foreign ministry on Thursday accused the United States of orchestrating a recent UN resolution calling for the investigation.
Its threat comes as new satellite images emerge indicating fresh activity at a North Korean nuclear facility.
A UN human rights committee on Tuesday passed a resolution calling on the Security Council to refer North Korea to the International Criminal Court for alleged crimes against humanity.
Pyongyang said the resolution was based on "fabricated testimonies" from North Korean defectors and "slander against Pyongyang". The resolution's approval was a "grave political provocation" by the US and such "aggression..is leaving us unable to further refrain from staging a new nuclear test."
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-30125047
When your only 'hammer' is nuclear weapons, every problem becomes a 'nail'. At least North Korea seems to be taking the threat of UN action seriously. They are not just laughing it off.