– Ministry of Foreign Affairs DPRK –
(mfa.gov.kp, July 4, 2023)
The 53rd session of the UN Human Rights Council recently held an interactive dialogue on annual report of the High Commissioner – ITEM 2.
During the interactive dialogue, too, the U.S. and the West unreasonably found fault with the human rights situations in certain countries and attempted, in their arrogance, to label them as “human rights violators” and “inhumane criminal states”.
In particular, they specifically called the names of those countries with strong independent stand.
They made a great fuss about institutionalizing investigation into human rights situation in those countries and subsequent legal punishment against them just calling for a thorough investigation by the international community to get to the bottom of the case.
This aroused due backlash from the participants.
Regarding the issues of Xinjiang, Tibet and Hong Kong, China noted that specific Western countries are unreasonably trying to provoke China with such issues in an attempt to usurp the UN human rights arena as a room for disseminating false information and tarnishing the image of China, and urged those countries to direct their energy instead into resolving their own domestic human rights issues.
Venezuela expressed concern over the attempts of certain hegemonic countries at using human rights issue as an instrument for opposing developing countries, encouraging submission of negative reports to justify their despicable propaganda and enforcement of the illegal and coercive measures.
Iran pointed out that the U.S. and the Western countries, out of their short-sighted political objectives, are devoted to the adoption of resolutions against individual countries to make human rights issue as an instrument.
Several countries including Cuba, Syria and Belorussia also expressed strong discontent with the UNHRC where such practices of unreasonable criticism against sovereign states and adoption of resolutions on individual countries still persist, and condemned the U.S. and the West for their behaviors to misuse human rights to realize ulterior political objectives.
Meanwhile, at the time of discussion of the ITEM 2, many countries strongly called for objectivity and autonomy in the activities of human rights organizations under the UN system.
Member states of the “Group of Friends in Defense of the Charter of the United Nations” issued a joint statement, asserting that genuine protection and promotion of human rights can only be achieved when all countries and human rights organizations respect the principles of respect for sovereignty and non-interference in internal affairs stipulated in the Charter of the United Nations and follow the principles of impartiality, objectivity, transparency, non-selectivity, non-politicization and non-confrontation.
Russia noted that the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights shuts its eyes to the systematic human rights violations in the Western countries, but selectively criticizes those countries that do not meet the Western human rights standard, and maintained that the Office should observe the principles of objectivity and independence in its activities, rather than blindly following the West.
Many developing countries participating in the session also underlined that the UN human rights organizations should strictly adhere to the principles of objectivity and impartiality in their activities, and promote constructive dialogues and cooperation.