Increasing Causalities Fuel Kerry’s Plea for UN Action in Syria

By Darrin Simmons
Impunity Watch Reporter, Middle East

 DAMASCUS, Syria-Two bombings in Syria killed at least 39 people in the latest surge in violence, early Thursday morning.  Meanwhile al-Qaeda attacked a border town near Turkey after killing and expelling fighters from the main opposition armed group.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urges UN action against Syria’s chemical weapons (photo courtesy of Aljazeera)

Activists said 20 people were killed in a car bombing of a government building in the town of Zamalka, near the capital Damascus.  While another roadside bomb in a village near central Homs province killed 19 people.

Following these recent attacks, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry urged the United Nations to push past the Syrian “stalemate” and act on the atrocities plaguing the country.  Kerry relied on the “definitive” UN report proving Syrian involvement in recent chemical weapons attacks.

“Now the test comes. The Security Council must be prepared to act next week,” Kerry said. “It is vital for the international community to stand up and speak out in the strongest possible terms about the importance of enforceable action to rid the world of Syria’s chemical weapons.”

Kerry has also turned to the international community, urging China to play a “positive, constructive” role at the UN on a resolution to strip Syria of its chemical weapons.  However historical proceedings are not on his side.

Both China and the U.S. have “disagreed sharply” on how to properly deal with Syria’s chemical weapons.  In the past Beijing, similar to Washington as a veto-wielding permanent member of the UN Security Council, has blocked resolutions seeking to condemn the regime during the vicious civil war.

Further, Kerry stated, “I would say to the community of nations, time is short.  Let’s not spend time debating what we already know.  We really don’t have time today to pretend that anyone can have their own set of facts approaching the issue of chemical weapons in Syria.  This fight about Syria’s chemical weapons is not a game.”

According to UN reports, nearly 100,000 people have died due to the conflict while millions have fled the country or become homeless.  “Neither the armed opposition nor the regime is capable of defeating the other side,” said Qadri Jamil, Syria’s deputy prime minister in referencing the current “stalemate”.

“We have to recognize that the world is watching to see whether we can avert military action and achieve through peaceful means the destruction of Syria’s chemical arms stocks,” stated Kerry in his final plea for the UN to issue a binding resolution on Syria’s chemical weapons next week.

For more information, please see the following: 

Aljazeera-Kerry urges UN to act on Syria chemical arms-September 19, 2013

BBC-Syria crisis: Minister says civil war has reached stalemate-September 19, 2013

Reuters-Putin sees hope in Syria deal; Kerry says it’s vital U.N. acts-September 19, 2013

Sky News-Kerry urges UN to act on Syria next week-September 19, 2013

 

U.N. Report Calls For International Action Against North Korean Human Rights Abuses

By Brian Lanciault

Impunity Watch Reporter, Asia

PYONGYANG, North Korea– United Nations experts investigating human rights conditions in North Korea announced Tuesday that the “shocking” evidence they had collected from defectors and others suggested “large-scale” patterns of abuse. They called for an immediate international response.

Chair of the Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea Michael Kirby presents new findings of human rights abuses in North Korea. (Photo courtesy United Nations)

The Human Rights Council initiated the investigation in an attempt to bring greater attention to allegations of abuse at the North’s infamous gulags. Tales of abuse have been spilling out for years as more people have escaped the brutal police state. Until recently, world leaders, including the United States, had focused on attempts to dismantle the North’s nuclear weapons program, paying little mind to the alleged abuse.

The chairman of the three-member Commission of Inquiry, Michael Donald Kirby, told reporters that the testimony he heard regarding abuses evoked reactions similar to the discovery of concentration camps after World War II.

He cited the statements of a former prisoner who reported seeing another woman forced to drown her baby in a bucket, and the account of one man who said he was forced to collect and burn the bodies of prisoners who died of starvation. Experts say the number of prisoners in these camps has declined in recent years to an estimated 120,000 or fewer from a possible high of 200,000; however that might be partly attributable to high mortality rates in the camps.

“The great value” of the report, said Eileen Chamberlain Donahoe, a United States ambassador to the Human Rights Council, is that “it has begun to shed light on the horrifying realities of life in North Korea and raise international awareness of the ongoing tragedy and barbaric conditions there.” She also said the findings demonstrated a “small but significant crack” in the North Korea’s “information blockade.”

The findings of the three-member Commission were part of an interim report to the council; the final report in March is expected to be presented to the United Nations General Assembly.

It is unclear yet what actions the United Nations might take, if any. A referral to the International Criminal Court for human rights abuses would need approval from the Security Council, which includes North Korea’s greatest ally, China.

Although China did not oppose the investigation, a senior Chinese diplomat in criticized the interim findings. “Politicized accusations and pressures are not helpful to improving human rights in any country,” Chen Chuandong said, according to Reuters. “On the contrary, they will only provoke confrontation and undermine the foundation and atmosphere for international human rights cooperation.”

Mr. Kirby said the panel had submitted multiple requests seeking cooperation and access to North Korea, including a letter to the country’s leader, Kim Jong-un. The Pyongyang regime responded that it “totally and categorically rejects the Commission of Inquiry.”

A senior North Korean diplomat in Geneva, Kim Yong-ho, said Tuesday that the evidence suggested by the panel had been “fabricated and invented” by North Korea’ enemies, and dismissed the commission as “a hotbed of confrontation and distrust.”

Mr. Kirby said that he had invited North Korea to provide hard evidence that refuted any of the testimony received, but that none was forthcoming.

For more information, please see:

New York Times — U.N. Panel Urges International Action on North Korean Human Rights Abuses — 17 September 2013

Rappler — UN probe exposes shocking North Korea rights abuses — 18 September 2013

Reuters — North Korea rejects U.N. rights report political — 17 September 2013

ABC News — Michael Kirby delivers scathing assessment of North Korea human rights abuses to UN — 17 September 2013

BBC — North Korea: UN rights probe shows ‘unspeakable atrocities’ –17 September 2013