Statement by Minister Counsellor Anniken Enersen at the 43rd session of the Human Rights Council. Item 4 – Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. Delivered at 9 March 2020.
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Madam President,
We thank the Special Rapporteur for his report. Norway shares his grave concern regarding the systematic and widespread human rights violations in the DPRK, as well as the serious challenges to improving the human rights situation.
In particular, Norway is concerned about the reports of sexual violence against women in detention. We are also concerned about the comprehensive restrictions on access to information. Norway supports the call by the Special Rapporteur on the DPRK to release detailed information about the political prison camps and invite independent international monitoring bodies to monitor them.
We appreciate DPRKs engagement in the third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) in May 2019 and call on the DPRK to take meaningful and measurable steps to follow up these obligations, including recommendations and resolutions that enjoy a wide support in this Council.
As the Special Rapporteur states, the stalled political negotiations have pushed the country back towards focus on self-reliance.The humanitarian situation remains serious, with vulnerable people suffering food and nutrition insecurity and lack of access to adequate healthcare. We share the Special Rapporteur’s concern regarding the sanction’s adverse impact on humantarian needs and welcome the Sanction Committee’s Panel of Experts’ recommendation to the Security Council requesting an assessment of the humanitarian impact of sanctions in the DPRK.
Thank you.