March 21, 2013 - Foreign Affairs Minister John Baird today issued the following statement:
“Canada welcomes the UN Human Rights Council’s decision to establish a commission of inquiry to investigate ongoing, widespread and systematic human rights violations in North Korea, which may amount to crimes against humanity. It is a measure that Canada pushed for strongly and is proud to have co-sponsored.
“This is a sober realization of a grave humanitarian situation created by a depraved and rogue regime.
“The international community has time and again warned North Korea that it would bear the consequences of its belligerent actions. North Korean people continue to starve and are denied basic human rights while the regime in Pyongyang squanders limited resources.”
The Human Rights Council unanimously adopted today’s resolution. On August 11, 2011, Canada imposed sanctions against North Korea under the Special Economic Measures Act. These sanctions are among the toughest in the world and one in a series of steps our government has taken in recent years to forcefully declare Canada’s opposition to aggressive actions by the current North Korean regime.
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