Human Rights Council 37th Session (26 February – 23 March 2018)

Interactive Dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea

Statement by Ireland

12 March 2018 

Ireland thanks the Special Rapporteur for the presentation of his report to the Human Rights Council. We are pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to this interactive dialogue.

Ireland would like to begin by aligning itself with the statement delivered by the European Union.

Ireland welcomes recent inter-Korean dialogue and conciliatory tones from the DPRK. We feel that every possibility of an opening or thaw should be seized upon by the international community, without disregard to the economic pressure that has, in all likelihood, brought about this opening. 

Ireland remains deeply concerned about the human rights abuses inflicted by the leadership of North Korea on its own people. We note with concern the Special Rapporteur’s comments that, as in all human rights violations on this scale, the impact on society is not even; it is the weak and invisible who suffer most - prisoners, residents of rural areas, persons forcibly returned from abroad and those living in poverty are among the most severely affected.

As a country which has experienced the horrors of widescale famine, Ireland is particularly troubled by the food security situation within the DPRK. The United Nations country team’s March 2017 assessment that 41pc of the DPRK’s population is undernourished is deeply worrying.

Ireland notes the Special Rapporteur’s comments that there is a risk that the food security situation will further deteriorate owing to the possible negative consequences of the sanctions imposed on the economy as a whole, and his recommendation for a comprehensive assessment of the unintended negative impact of Security Council sanctions on the enjoyment of human rights.

Ireland would like to ask the Special Rapporteur to elaborate on some of the other most serious likely impacts that will be caused by the retention of the current sanctions regime, on the people of the DPRK.