November 2, 2005

Draft Resolution on the Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

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On November 17, 2005, the UN General Assembly's Third Committee adopted the first of only seven resolutions which have been tabled pointing the finger at human rights violations in specific states (setting aside the umpteen resolutions on Israel.) This one was directed at the "Democratic" People's Republic of Korea. And the crowd went crazy. Cuba: "It discourages a lack of cooperation. It denies respect for territorial integrity and national sovereignty." Malaysia: "We are against resolutions targetting specific countries. We reject the policy of naming and shaming. We prefer a dialogue-based approach." Ditto speeches from human rights paradises in Indonesia, China, Sudan, Venezuela, Turkmenistan, Zimbabwe, and Egypt. Egypt made the objection very clear: "If we open the door to country-specific resolutions we could start to impose specific ways of assessing respect for human rights in other regions." Exactly.