UN Panel Taking Action Against North Korea’s Human Rights Violations
On Monday, February 14th, a United Nations panel had a debate about bringing North Korea Leader, Kim Jong-un to trail for crimes against humanity. They ended up serving a notice to him, implying that he is being held personally liable in the International Criminal Court for human rights violations inflicted by state institutions and officials under his direct command. After a one-year long investigation, the United Nations Human Rights Council published a report—viewed as one of the most detailed and telling body of data on the conditions of human rights in North Korea.
Up to this point, many countries and world leaders have had suspicions of gross human rights violations but have been unable to actually conjure up charges because of the isolated and reclusive nature of North Korea. However, this new report published has detailed information from direct North Korean sources, such as refugees who have escaped the country and found asylum elsewhere. Their reports included but were not limited to: extermination of large groups of people, murders, enslavement, torture, rape, and persecution on the grounds of race, religion, and gender.
North Korea denounced the report, saying that the countries’ enemies, South Korea and the United States, have fabricated these lies. Officials from a North Korean Mission Meeting were quoted saying that such violations “do not exist in our country,” and that the findings were “an instrument of a political plot aimed at sabotaging the socialist system.”
At this point, it’s unclear as to whether or not real action will be taken in North Korea and more specifically against their current leader, Kim Jong-un. I believe action is necessary. We are now aware of the vast human rights violations, and having that knowledge without any sort of action to repair the situation is a disgrace. The report came very close to describing genocidal conditions, and if the international community doesn’t take action, they will have the blood of thousands on their hands.
John Kerry Gets Aggressive about Climate Change
United States Secretary of State, John Kerry, delivered a speech about climate change in Jakarta, Indonesia to a group of American college students on February 16. Throughout the speech, Kerry used harsh and offensive language in trying to persuade his audience that climate change is THE pressing issue for America. He called on all nations saying that they must address “the greatest challenge of our generation.”
After expressing his strong views on the severity of climate change, he took a few stabs at those who reject global warming and the issues connected to it.
“We should not allow a tiny minority of shoddy scientists and science extreme ideologues to compete with scientific fact,” Kerry said at the U.S. Embassy’s @america function in Jakarta. Calling scientists and scientific information “shoddy” and saying that those groups are in the “minority” is pretty hostile and destructive language for the Secretary of State to be using when speaking about other Americans. He continued to isolate and mock opposing groups saying that he and President Obama had “no time for the Flat Earth Society and people who refuse to look at evidence and bury their heads in the sand.”
Many were enraged after this speech, including former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich who called for Kerry to resign from office saying he was “delusional” to put climate change as a greater threat than unrest all over the world.
Although I do not think Mr. Kerry should resign, I do agree with Newt Gingrich in saying that Kerry was wrong to push that climate change is the number one most pressing issue in the US. In fact, I think it’s insulting for a US official to say that climate change, or any issue really, is more pressing than another. What about national security issues such as Iranian and North Korean powers acquiring nuclear weapons? What about the violence in Kiev, Syria, Iraq?
According to the US Department of State, under the Constitution, the President of the United States determines U.S. foreign policy. The Secretary of State, appointed by the President with the advice and consent of the Senate, is the President’s chief foreign affairs adviser. Why is John Kerry aggressively discussing climate change in Indonesia when he could be working on serious foreign affairs threats? In this case, I think Kerry dropped the ball in a major way…time for the Obama administration to try to clean that mess up.
READ MORE: http://www.cnn.com/2014/02/16/politics/kerry-climate/