SYDNEY, Australia (CU)_North Korea, described by human rights groups as ‘one of the most repressive countries in the world’, has called on Australia to end racism and cease inhumane treatment in detention centres.
Addressing the United Nations Human Rights Council on Thursday (Jan 21), via video conferencing, North Korea’s representative Kim Song said his nation had “concerns over continued human rights violations in Australia”, and called on the Pacific island nation to end “deep-rooted racism” and cease inhumane treatment in detention centres.
North Korea, a largely isolated totalitarian dictatorship, made these comments during a five-yearly review into Australia’s human rights progress, and offered three recommendations to Australia, which involved matters of racism and human rights violations against detainees and persons with disabilities.
North Korea’s submission raised eyebrows due to the country’s own human rights abuses, which includes a detention and forced labour, arbitrary punishment and use of threat of execution by the country’s totalitarian government.
Responding to Kim Song’s remarks, Member of the Australian House of Representatives, Dave Sharma, wrote on Twitter, “This must be an attempt at irony?”, while UN Watch also tweeted, “No Joke: NORTH KOREA today reviewed Australia’s rights record at the UN…”
International human rights NGO, Human Rights Watch (HRW), has described North Korea as “one of the most repressive countries in the world”.
“The government does not tolerate any dissent. It bans independent media, civil society, and trade unions, and systematically denies basic rights, including freedom of expression, assembly, association, and religion,” the Organisation said in a 2020 World Report.
“It systematically extracts forced, unpaid labour from its citizens to build infrastructure and implement public projects. The government also fails to protect or promote the rights of numerous at-risk groups, including women, children, and people with disabilities.”
Recommendations made during the Human Rights Council’s universal periodic review process are not binding, and there is no clear punishment for continued human rights breaches.
Nevertheless, more than 30 other nations, including Canada, Germany, France, Italy and Poland, joined North Korea in denouncing Australia’s human rights record. Meanwhile, the Australian government acknowledged the need to “do better”, but claimed there have been a number of improvements since 2015.
