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UN says missile sanctions hurting North Korea
Kuala Lumpur (AFP) Jul 24, 2006 North Korea's missile tests will worsen an already poor rights situation in the country, having led its neighbours to impose sanctions including a halt in food aid, a UN official said. The United Nations' special rapporteur on human rights in North Korea, Vitit Muntarbhorn, said the missile launches on July 5 were "irresponsible" and had affected goodwill towards the communist country. "The acts, particularly the missile launch(es), have ultimately impacted upon on human rights, because they have led to a certain reaction from neighbours in terms of cutback on food and fertiliser aid," Vitit told reporters on the sidelines of a meeting of Southeast Asian ministers. The UN's World Food Program had been able to bring in a reduced amount of food aid this year to Stalinist North Korea, which has suffered food shortages since the 1990s, Muntarbhorn said. "But that has now been affected by the missile tests, because the food aid not only pertains to multilateral aid coming through the World Food Program, but also food aid pertains to bilateral aid, particularly coming from the neighbours," he said. Japan has already banned a major North Korean ferry link, visits by diplomats and charter flights in response to the missile tests, while South Korea has suspended shipments of rice and fertiliser. "Generally speaking, we would say that humanitarian aid should not be conditional, so food aid should not be conditional. But today of course we see the impact of the missile tests in terms of having an impact on the goodwill which has imposed constraints upon, particularly, bilateral food aid." North Korea's test launching of seven missiles prompted a unanimous condemnation by the UN Security Council and raised tensions in a region already rattled by Pyongyang's nuclear ambitions. A report prepared by Vitit released earlier this year found that food shortages from floods as well as mismanagement were still a critical problem in North Korea, as well as the lack of political rights. While some improvements have been made in tackling chronic malnutrition, he said the condition was a "severe problem" still affecting children and expectant mothers, leading to a high level of maternal mortality. Vitit, who will present the report's findings to the UN Human Rights Council in September and then to the UN General Assembly in October, called on North Korea to engage with the UN. Now in his third year as the special rapporteur, Vitit has not had been able to visit North Korea or to meet officially with the country's government since his appointment. "The door is always open and so I'd urge them very much to engage with the UN in terms of transparency and fairness to all," he said. Community Email This Article Comment On This Article Related Links
War-weary Beirut residents party as 'act of defiance'
Beirut (AFP) Jul 23, 2006 Queen's iconic anthem "We Will Rock You" takes on a new meaning when you hear it in a Beirut bar just a few kilometres from the booms of Israeli missiles. |
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