Update: UN General Assembly Plenary Vote on North Korean Human Rights, December 18, 2015

by Raymond Ha, HRNK Office Manager & Outreach Coordinator

Following the passage of draft resolution A/C.3/70/L.35 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea in the Third Committee of the General Assembly on November 18, the human rights situation in North Korea has maintained a high profile at the UN.

Most notably, the Security Council held its second discussion of the subject on December 10, following the historic discussion last December. China requested another procedural vote on whether to keep the human rights situation in North Korea on the agenda of the Security Council, and the motion passed with 9 votes for, 4 against, and 2 abstentions. The subsequent briefing consisted of statements from Jeffrey Feltman (Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs), Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein (High Commissioner for Human Rights), all fifteen Security Council members, and the ambassadors of Japan and the Republic of Korea.

A week after the Security Council discussion, the plenary session of the General Assembly convened to consider the report of the Third Committee. Resolution A/C.3/70/L.35 was included on the agenda, and a recorded vote was requested. The resolution (A/RES/70/172) passed with 119 votes for, 19 against, and 48 abstentions.

The analysis below summarizes changes in member states’ voting positions since last month’s vote in the Third Committee, as a follow-up to the initial analysis of the Third Committee vote last month. While a complete analysis is not possible until the official records of the plenary session are released, it is assumed for the purpose of this analysis that all votes, as recorded electronically on December 17, are true and accurate representations of member states’ preferences.

Analysis of Changes in Voting Behavior

The table below extends and updates the information in the previous analysis. Azerbaijan, Equatorial Guinea, and Mongolia are excluded once again, as they did not participate in any of the four votes.

	Third Committee Nov. 18, 2014 111-19-55 (A/C.3/69/L.28/Rev.1*)	Plenary Session Dec. 18, 2014 116-20-53 (A/RES/69/188)	Third Committee Nov. 19, 2015 112-19-50 (A/C.3/70/L.35)	Plenary Session Dec. 17, 2015 119-19-48 (A/RES/70/172)
Algeria	Abstain	Abstain	Against	Against
Antigua-Barbuda	Abstain	Abstain	(Did not vote)	For
Benin	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Burkina Faso	For	For	Abstain	For
Burundi	For	For	Against	Against
Central African Republic	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Chad	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Comoros	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Congo (Republic of)	Abstain	Abstain	(Did not vote)	For
Dominica	(Did not vote)	For	(Did not vote)	For
Ecuador	Against	Against	Abstain	Abstain
El Salvador	Abstain	For	For	For
Gabon	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Gambia	Abstain	Against	Abstain	Abstain
Ghana	For	For	Abstain	For
Guinea-Bissau	(Did not vote)	For	For	For
Kiribati	For	For	(Did not vote)	For
Rwanda	For	For	For	(Did not vote)
Sao Tome & Principe	(Did not vote)	For	(Did not vote)	(Did not vote)
Saudi Arabia	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Seychelles	For	For	For	(Did not vote)
Somalia	For	For	(Did not vote)	Abstain
South Sudan	Abstain	For	For	For
Sri Lanka	Against	Against	For	For
Swaziland	(Did not vote)	(Did not vote)	Abstain	Abstain
Tajikistan	For	Abstain	For	For
Togo	Abstain	Abstain	For	For
Tonga	(Did not vote)	Abstain	Abstain	For
Vanuatu	For	For	For	(Did not vote)

Table 1: Summary of Changes in Voting Behavior

The list of countries that opposed the resolution did not change between the Third Committee and the plenary session. Algeria and Burundi maintained their opposition to the resolution. Comoros, Gabon, Saudi Arabia, and Togo, which had abstained last year, signaled clear support for the resolution by voting in favor on both occasions this year. Somalia was the only member state that moved away from supporting the resolution, by abstaining during the plenary vote after voting in favor last year.

Three member states moved towards supporting the resolution after abstaining in the Third Committee. Burkina Faso and Ghana, which had voted in favor of the resolution on both occasions last year, reverted to supporting the resolution. Tonga voted in favor of the resolution for the first time since last year.

Most of the member states that did not participate in the Third Committee vote last month voted in favor of the resolution during the plenary session: Antigua-Barbuda, Benin, the Central African Republic, Chad, the Republic of the Congo, Dominica, and Kiribati. This accounts for most of the increase in the number of votes in support of the resolution. Of these seven countries, Antigua-Barbuda and the Republic of the Congo supported the resolution this year after abstaining on both of last year’s votes. Three consistent supporters of the resolution were absent at yesterday’s vote: Rwanda, the Seychelles, and Vanuatu. This indicates that the margin of support for the resolution could arguably have been even wider.

Read More

Categories: news

Committee against Torture Calls on China to “Immediately Cease Forcible Repatriation” of North Koreans

*This is a follow-up to Christine Chung’s post, “China Responds to the Committee against Torture,” December 4, 2015.

Today, the Committee against Torture released its “Concluding observations of the fifth periodic report of China.” In particular, paragraph 46 of the report highlights the Committee’s critique of China’s practice of forcibly repatriating North Koreans as economic migrants, despite the certain torture and ill-treatment that awaits them upon refoulement (the return of an alleged refugee to his or her state of origin) to North Korea. The report states:

46. While welcoming the adoption in 2012 of the Exit-Entry Administration Law (see para. 4 (b)), the Committee remains concerned that in the absence of national asylum legislation and administrative procedures the refugee determination process has to be carried out by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The Committee is also concerned over the State party’ rigorous policy of forcibly repatriating all nationals of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), on the grounds that they have illegally crossed the border solely on economic reasons. In this regard, the Committee takes note of over 100 testimonies from North Koreans received by UN sources (A/HRC/25/63, paras. 42–45), indicating that persons forcibly repatriated to DPRK are systematically subjected to torture and ill-treatment. In light of this information, the Committee regrets the State party’s failure to clarify, in spite of the questions raised during the dialogue, whether or not DPRK nationals are denied access to refugee determination procedures in China via UNHCR, as reported to the Committee by various sources (art. 3). 

The Committee against Torture then made recommendations to China.

47. The State party should: 

(a) Adopt the necessary legislative measures to fully incorporate into domestic legislation the principle of non-refoulement set out in article 3 of the Convention, and promptly establish a national asylum procedure, in cooperation with UNHCR; 

(b) Immediately cease forcible repatriation of undocumented migrants and trafficking victims to the DPRK and allow UNHCR personnel unimpeded access to DPRK nationals who have crossed the border to determine if they were qualified for refugee status. 

48. The Committee reminds the State party that under no circumstance should the State party expel, return or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he or she would be in danger of being subjected to torture. In order to determine the applicability of the obligations that it has assumed under article 3 of the Convention, the State party should thoroughly examine the merits of each individual case, including the overall situation with regard to torture in the country of destination. It should also support effective post-return monitoring arrangements in cases of refoulement, including any conducted by UNHCR.

Source: Committee against Torture, "Concluding observations on the fifth periodic report of China,” ADVANCE UNEDITED VERSION, December 9, 2015, http://www.hrichina.org/sites/default/files/cat-chn-co-5_china_advanced_english_version.pdf.

The full report can also be found at this link:  http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/treatybodyexternal/SessionDetails1.aspx?SessionID=1002&Lang=en.

Read More

Categories: China, committeehrnk, defector, DPRK, HRNK, humanrights, news, NKdefector, North Korea, Torture, UNHCR