Statement by Mr Michael Kirby Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the 25th session of the Human Rights Council, Geneva, 17 March 2014 -- DisplayNews

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Last
century, the world was faced with the Nazi ideology that sought to
relegate people to the condition of lesser beings.  It used terror,
discrimination and extermination in concentration camps to achieve its
ends.  It deployed totalitarian control to silence its critics. 

The world said ‘never again’.  It proclaimed the Charter of the
United Nations.  It declared universal human rights as our shared
destiny.

Thereafter for almost 50 years, another terrible scourge of humanity
reigned in South Africa:  apartheid, the system of racial segregation
under which the rights of the majority were curtailed and those of the
minority maintained.  When it fell, the world said never again.

In the 20th century, the conscience of the world was shocked again by
the cruelty of the Khmer Rouge. They arbitrarily executed and tortured
those perceived as subversive elements. They starved their population in
the name of self-sufficiency.  Virtually no-one was untouched.  When
the killing fields were discovered, the world said never again.

Here we are in the 21st century.  And yet we are faced with a
remaining and shameful scourge that afflicts the world today. We can no
longer afford to remain oblivious to it, nor impotent to act against it.

The Commission of Inquiry has found systematic, widespread and grave
human rights violations occurring in the Democratic People’s Republic of
Korea. It has also found a disturbing array of crimes against humanity.
These crimes are committed against inmates of political and other
prison camps; against starving populations; against religious believers;
against persons who try to flee the country - including those forcibly
repatriated by China.

These crimes arise from policies established at the highest level of
the State.  They have been committed, and continue to take place in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, because the policies,
institutions and patterns of impunity that lie at their heart remain in
place.

The gravity, scale, duration and nature of the unspeakable atrocities
committed in the country reveal a totalitarian State that does not have
any parallel in the contemporary world.

These are the ongoing crimes against humanity happening in the
Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, which our generation must tackle
urgently and collectively.  The rest of the world has ignored the
evidence for too long.  Now there is no excuse, because now we know.  In
today’s world, billions of people have direct access to the horrifying
evidence.

Last month - when the report was made available online - it received
broad media coverage.  But the findings of the Commission were not
available to the people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea.

What is important is how the international community now acts on the
report.   What is most important is immediate action to improve the
lives, and fulfil the human rights, of the ordinary citizens of the
DPRK.  A compelling report and wide media coverage are good.  But they
are woefully insufficient.