EU Statement – UN General Assembly 3rd Committee: Human Rights in the DPRK

Chair,

I have the honour to address this Committee on behalf of the European Union on the draft resolution L.32 entitled “Situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea".

The European Union would like to thank the co-sponsors for their contributions to the resolution in front of us today.

The resolution reflects our deep concern with regard to the severe human rights situation in the DPRK. Unfortunately, we have not seen any improvements in this regard in the past year. The draft resolution reflects these concerns.

Some of the updates in this year’s text are related to the COVID 19 pandemic and cooperation on vaccines. Others reflect that there is a new mandate-holder as Special Rapporteur as of August this year.

The resolution continues to call for continued actions and engagement by the international community. It is crucial that the international community sends a clear message to the DPRK to take immediate steps to improve the human rights situation.

It is also vital to voice continued support to the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights and its field office in Seoul, not least with regard to its important work to ensure accountability for human rights violations committed in the DPRK.

The European Union pursues a policy of "critical engagement" with regard to the DPRK. While we introduce this resolution to gather momentum and draw international attention to the human rights situation, we stand ready to assist in improving it.

Once again, we would like to thank all who have co-sponsored the text and we hope that others will join the list of co-sponsors.

Thank you.