Press Release of DPRK Mission on Sanctions

Pyongyang, November 5 (KCNA) -- The DPRK permanent mission to the UN Office and international organizations in Geneva on Nov. 2 issued the following press release:

A press release issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) on 27 October 2017 mentioned that the sanctions against the DPRK imposed by the UN Security Council (UNSC) have a negative impact on the population of the country.

Today the U.S.-led racket of brutal sanctions and pressure against the DPRK constitutes contemporary human rights violation and genocide and raises concern and condemnation of international community as it threatens and impedes the enjoyment by the people of DPRK of their human rights in all sectors.

The "sanctions resolutions" against the DPRK which were adopted illegally yielding to the interest and high-handedness of certain countries are illegitimate and unprecedented documents against human rights and remain contravention of universal principles of international law in terms of legal basis, motivation and content.

Under the pretext of implementation of such "sanctions resolutions" some unprincipled countries have blocked the delivery of medical equipment and medicines for treatment of patients and for the health of mothers and children destined to the DPRK and created obstacles to the production of educational equipment and nutritional food for children.

The despicable sanctions and pressure by hostile forces have even caused abnormal situation whereby most of the assistance activities of international humanitarian organizations which have continued their operation in the DPRK for over 20 years have been thwarted or reduced.

The indiscriminate application of sanctions against the DPRK in total disregard of a slightest reference in the UNSC's "sanctions resolution" that prohibits any acts affecting the livelihood of population and humanitarian activities represents nefarious human rights violations infringing upon the principles of humanitarianism and international human rights treaties including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

If the OHCHR and other human rights mechanisms are truly and genuinely devoted to international efforts for promotion and protection of human rights, they should embark on moves to punish and end the U.S.-led inhumane acts of sanctions and pressure, the barbarous human rights violations which are aimed at overthrowing the state and social system of sovereign state rather than taking up non-existent "human rights issue" of the DPRK.

All acts of sanctions which run counter to the international promotion and protection of human rights and lofty ideal of humanitarianism should never be justified under whatever circumstances and all types of anti-human rights and inhumane sanctions against the DPRK should be terminated immediately and thoroughly.