i24 News: “Now, you’ve been talking about this for many years, Hillel. But do you think this war has opened a lot of people’s eyes as to what exactly UNRWA is?”

Hillel Neuer: “The fact that the majority, a large majority in the lower house of the Swiss parliament voted to defund UNRWA shows that we’ve reached a certain point. By the way, this happened on the same day that Switzerland voted to ban Hamas, unanimously. So those happened together, at the same time, it’s not accidental. The same Swiss parliament that banned Hamas voted to defund UNRWA.

As I said, the Senate did not approve it. But that indicates that even Switzerland, neutral Switzerland, has enough people that have begun to wake up. That an agency that claims to be solving the problem is actually perpetuating it. We need to do something, we can’t let things remain business as usual. And we should help Palestinians, they need help. But the fact that there’s a political agenda-driven agency that is managing all of this, we’ve seen that they haven’t solved anything. And in fact, they’re the ones who educated the terrorists of October 7, many of them are graduates of UNRWA schools.”

The post Swiss National Council decides to cut aid to UNRWA: Hillel Neuer on i24 News appeared first on UN Watch.

___________

TRANSCRIPT
Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter
March 7, 2017
Source: https://www.parlament.ch/en/ratsbetrieb/amtliches-bulletin/amtliches-bulletin-die-verhandlungen?SubjectId=39487
Translation from original French:

I would like to comment specifically on a few elements about a certain number of cases that were at times mentioned rather unilaterally. I will begin with a case that has nothing to do with a non-governmental organization, but rather with the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine (UNRWA), which as it happens, is run by a Swiss citizen.
The Federal Council has become aware of the allegations contained in the report from the NGO UN Watch, stating that UNRWA employees allegedly propagated racist and anti-Semitic messages over social networks.
The Federal Council condemns this in the strongest terms.
However, it is not because something happened with one or another member of an organization that this organization should be condemned. We must consider things in a more nuanced way and account for the reality in this region of the world, which is a real powder keg.
However, UNRWA plays a very important role in keeping this powder keg from becoming even more dangerous.
We condemn these forms of racism and anti-Semitism.
In our dialog with the organization, we pay special importance to fully following the principle of neutrality by the office and its employees. The department has opened discussions with UNRWA also about the cases mentioned, and an examination of these allegations is underway. Therefore, we expect our partners, such as this organization, to carry out investigations and to take disciplinary action if these allegations are proven.
With regard to UNRWA, on the other hand, we shall continue to focus on the important aspect of this dossier, for instance, on the fact that it provides capital support in the region. If you go to the region, you will certainly see that thousands of young Palestinian refugees have any hope due only to the work of this organization, which helps to prevent them from slipping into extremist tendencies.
We feel that this work done by UNRWA is quite simply indispensable, for reasons of security and for Israel, which I will come back to. Israel does indeed have every interest in our continuing to work, while, of course, eliminating the worst tendencies of this organization (for instance, with its staff), yet while maintaining the main work being done, which, for instance, gives a whole host of people the opportunity to go to school.
With regard more generally to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Switzerland is committed to promoting peace. It does so specifically with these means, and fights for the respect of international law by all parties in the conflict.

__________

(Original French)
Didier Burkhalter
Chef du Département fédéral des affaires étrangères (DFAE)
7 mars 2017
J’aimerais préciser quelques éléments sur un certain nombre de dossiers, qui ont parfois été évoqués de manière assez unilatérale. Je commence par un dossier qui ne se rapporte pas à une organisation non gouvernementale, mais à l’Office de secours et de travaux des Nations Unies pour les réfugiés de Palestine dans le Proche-Orient (UNRWA), qui est d’ailleurs dirigé par un Suisse.
Le Conseil fédéral a pris connaissance des allégations contenues dans le rapport de l’ONG UN Watch, selon lesquelles des employés de l’UNRWA auraient propagé des messages racistes, antisémites, par le biais des réseaux sociaux.
Le Conseil fédéral condamne cela de la façon la plus sévère. Toutefois, ce n’est pas parce qu’il se passe quelque chose avec l’un ou l’autre des membres d’une organisation qu’il faut tout de suite condamner l’organisation. Il faut considérer les choses de façon plus nuancée et tenir compte de la réalité de cette région du monde, qui est une véritable poudrière. Or, l’UNRWA joue un très grand rôle pour éviter que la poudrière devienne encore plus dangereuse. Nous condamnons ces formes de racisme et d’antisémitisme. Dans notre dialogue avec cette organisation, nous accordons une importance particulière au plein respect du principe de neutralité par l’office et par ses employés. Le département a ouvert la discussion avec l’UNRWA, également sur les cas mentionnés, et un examen de ces allégations est en cours. Donc, nous attendons de nos partenaires, comme de cette organisation, qu’ils mènent des enquêtes et qu’ils prennent des mesures disciplinaires si les faits allégués sont avérés.
Pour ce qui concerne l’UNRWA, nous continuerons, en revanche, de nous focaliser sur l’essentiel dans ce dossier, par exemple sur le fait qu’elle fournit un apport capital dans la région. Si vous êtes allés dans la région, vous aurez certainement vu que si des centaines de milliers de jeunes réfugiés palestiniens ont des perspectives, c’est uniquement grâce au travail de cette organisation, ce qui permet de prévenir leur glissement vers des tendances extrémistes.
Nous estimons que ce travail de l’UNRWA est tout simplement indispensable, pour des raisons de sécurité et pour Israël – j’y reviendrai. Israël a en effet tout intérêt à ce que nous puissions poursuivre ce travail, tout en éliminant évidemment les pires tendances de cette organisation – par exemple, dans son personnel -, mais en maintenant l’essentiel du travail, lequel donne, par exemple, la possibilité d’aller à l’école à toute une série de personnes.
En ce qui concerne plus généralement le conflit israélo-palestinien, la Suisse s’engage pour la promotion de la paix. Elle le fait, précisément, avec ces moyens, et milite pour le respect du droit international par toutes les parties au conflit.

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29 September 2002: Jean Ziegler receives Qaddafi Human Rights Prize—and $100,00 award  

GENEVA, Sept. 29 – Switzerland should temporarily suspend its “problematic” nomination of Jean Ziegler for re-election tomorrow to the UN Human Rights Council, “until questions are resolved about significant funds he apparently received from the Qaddafi regime and other serial human rights abusers,” urged UN Watch, a Geneva-based non-governmental human rights group that is accredited with the United Nations.
Switzerland should also suspend the nomination until the UN Legal Advisor determines how Ziegler can run for a fourth term when Art. 74 of the UNHRC charter prohibits re-election more than once, said UN Watch. For details, documents, and links, please click here.
“Exactly 14 years ago today—on 29 September 2002—Jean Ziegler, already a UN human rights official, was on stage at a ceremony in Tripoli, Libya, as they placed the Moammar Qadd   afi Human Rights Prize around his neck,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
“Ziegler was part of the founding jury of the Qaddafi Prize in 1989, he was the one who announced it to the world in 1989, and he helped manage it as vice-president of a Libyan-funded front group in Geneva known as ‘Nord Sud XXI’.”
“The prize included both a medal—and a cash award of $100,000. For the next decade Ziegler repeatedly denied any connection with the prize. In 2013, however, he suddenly claimed that he had returned the medal. Yet he never explained what he did with the money, which was all funds stolen by Qaddafi from the Libyan people.”
“Ziegler should fully open up his financial accounts for inspection and allow an independent investigation concerning money he received from Qaddafi, and from other regimes for whom he lobbied at the UN, including the Castro, Chavez, and Al-Bashir regimes,” said Neuer.
An earlier Swiss nomination of Ziegler in 2013 was criticized by the Swiss parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and by Swiss MPs from three different parties, including Christian Lüscher, Walter Muller, Christa Markwalder, Kathy Riklin, and Andreas Aeb.

“While Gaddafi was raping countless women and girls across Libya, Jean Ziegler was busy promoting the Libyan dictator as a hero of human rights,” said Hillel Neuer, executive director of UN Watch.
Wikileaks revealed that the head of the UN’s World Food Program in 2002 urged UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to remove Ziegler for his “profoundly immoral” and “inflammatory” politics, which “had a negative impact on the lives of the hungry.” For details, documents, and links, please click here.
At an evening ceremony on September 29, 2002, Ziegler was in Tripoli where he himself received the Gaddafi Prize, together with convicted French Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy, following a 4-day conference that discussed “space and time, death and eternity, as well as the style, language and the irony in Moammar Gaddafi’s writings.”
Ziegler joined the council in 2000 as its hunger expert, a position created for him by Cuba’s Fidel Castro government in 2000. In 2008, he moved to the council’s advisory committee. In 2012, his application to stay at the UN was rejected.
Ziegler in the past has also been condemned by the the government of Canada, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan, High Commissioner Louise Arbour, the head of the World Food Program, and 45 human rights groups.
The UNHRC election is tomorrow.

The post Switzerland Should Suspend UNHRC Nomination of Jean Ziegler Ahead of Tomorrow's Election appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, Sept. 21, 2016 — Switzerland has just nominated a notorious apologist for dictators and rapists including Muammar Qaddafi as the Western Group’s sole candidate to be a UN human rights expert, reported UN Watch today. The Geneva-based watchdog group sent a letter to Western countries urging them to oppose Jean Ziegler in the Sept. 30th election at the UN Human Rights Council. See letter below.

PETITION: TAKE ACTION NOW: OPPOSE U.N. ELECTION OF JEAN ZIEGLER
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Letter to UNHRC Members France, Germany, UK, Netherlands and Belgium, and to U.S. as Western Group coordinator

Excellency:
We urge you to oppose Switzerland’s absurd nomination of Jean Ziegler, as the sole candidate of your Western Group, to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee, the election for which is scheduled for September 30, 2016.
Mr. Ziegler, who has written books advocating “reasonable hatred of the West,” would absurdly occupy one of only three seats allotted to Western countries.  The official UN criteria for the position are expertise in human rights, high moral standing, independence and impartiality.  An analysis of Mr. Ziegler’s record raises serious questions as to his satisfaction of these requirements.  Concerns include:
• Mr. Ziegler’s abuse of his former UN Mandate: When he served as UN special rapporteur on the right to food, Mr. Ziegler ignored many of the world’s most starving populations, instead focusing attention on his personal political agenda.  As documented in the UN Watch report “Blind to Burundi,” during 2000 to 2004, Mr. Ziegler systematically failed to speak out for numerous food emergencies, in Burundi, the Central African Republic, Sierra Leone and elsewhere.
In 2002, World Food Program Executive Director James T. Morris sent  urgent letters to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan warning that Ziegler as Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food had engaged in “profoundly immoral” actions and “inflammatory” politics that endanger the lives of millions of starving people worldwide. The WFP chief’s 24 October 2002 letter, published on Wikileaks, makes the most severe accusations against Jean Ziegler — and seeks to remove him.
In the letter, the World Food Program—the real expert on hunger—accuses Mr. Ziegler of making it “harder rather than easier for WFP to help hungry people fulfill their right to food in emergencies.” Mr. Ziegler, says the WFP, is “playing politics with aid,” and his actions and statements are “profoundly immoral” and “unconscionable.”
According to the World Food Program, the “clearly inflammatory politics played by Mr. Ziegler has had a negative impact on the lives of the hungry.” Moreover, Mr. Ziegler’s “public statements and the reports he has submitted to the General Assembly show a serious lack of understanding of economics and the details of the food situation in the areas he professes to analyze on behalf of the High Commissioner.
• Mr. Zieger’s support for serial violators of human rights: In 1986, Mr. Ziegler served as advisor to Ethiopian dictator Colonel Mengistu on a constitution instituting one-party rule.  In 2002 he praised the Zimbabwean dictator, saying,  “Mugabe has history and morality with him.”  According to Le Monde, he paid visits to Saddam Hussein in Iraq, and Kim Il-Sung in North Korea.  Mr. Ziegler is also a long-time supporter of Cuban dictator Fidel Castro, whose regime Mr. Ziegler hailed during an official visit in October, while he refused to meet Cuban dissidents. Also this year, during an interview in Lebanon, Mr. Ziegler said, “I refuse to describe Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. It is a national resistance movement. I can understand Hezbollah when they kidnap soldiers…”
• Mr. Ziegler’s involvement with Libyan propaganda: In 1989, shortly after Libyan agents blew up Pan Am 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland, Mr. Ziegler went to Libya to co-found the “Moammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize,” and served as its Geneva spokesman.  The prize has since been awarded to anti-Western dictators such as Fidel Castro and Hugo Chavez.  It has also been awarded to notorious racists and anti-Semites such as Louis Farrakhan, leader of the Nation of Islam, and Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Muhammad.  Bizarrely, in 1989 he boasted of it, Mr. Ziegler later denied, over a period of 10 years, any involvement with the prize; in 2013, faced with video evidence, he admitted that he received the prize. Ziegler’s cover-up was exposed by UN Watch, Swiss TV, the Neue Zurcher Zeitung, and Le Matin.
• Ziegler’s support for convicted Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy: In 1996, Mr. Ziegler publicly defended Roger Garaudy, the French Stalinist whose book, “The Founding Myths of Modern Israel,” denies the Holocaust. “All your work as a writer and philosopher,” Mr. Ziegler wrote on April 1, 1996, “attests to the rigor of your analysis and the unwavering honesty of your intentions.  It makes you one of the leading thinkers of our time.”  In 2002, Mr. Garaudy was awarded the Qaddafi Prize—the same year that Mr. Ziegler received it as well.
Many of the world’s leading authorities have objected to Mr. Ziegler’s practices.  In 2005, both UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan and High Commissioner Louise Arbour publicly denounced Mr. Ziegler for having compared Israeli soldiers to concentration camp guards.  He is the only UN expert to have been so reprimanded.  Seventy U.S. congressmen wrote to the UN, citing Mr. Ziegler for anti-Semitism. The Canadian government filed an official protest.
In April 2006, an international coalition of 15 non-governmental organizations, including victims of Cuban and Libyan abuses, protested Mr. Ziegler’s nomination as a UN expert, citing his disturbing record.  Similarly, many scholars have questioned Mr. Ziegler’s academic credentials.  For example, when he was made professor at the University of Geneva, eminent historian Herbert Luthy returned his honorary doctorate in protest.
We note that late Venezuelan ruler Hugo Chavez nominated Mr. Ziegler for the same post in 2004, but that he failed to win election.
To avoid causing even further harm to the credibility of the world’s highest intergovernmental human rights body, we urge you to oppose this nomination.
Thank you.

_______________

Documents and Sources

• UN Watch annotated version of 2013 Swiss Note Verbale for Jean Ziegler
• Protest in 2008 against Ziegler by 45 NGOs (French version — en francais)  (German version — Deutsch)
• Journal de Genève (in French) reporting on Ziegler’s 1989 role as spokesman for the Moammar Qaddafi Human Rights Prize, and his claims about “Libyan democratization.”
• Ziegler’s attempts to cover up his key role in the prize were exposed by Swiss TV’s respected “10vor10” program (video with English subtitles); and by the Le Matin newspaper (in French), which displayed one column of Ziegler’s claims, side by side with another column of contradictory information.
• Detailed UN Watch report and original sources showing Jean Ziegler’s role as co-founder of the Qaddafi Human Rights Prize.
• Supplement: documents from official Qaddafi Prize website showing Jean Ziegler’s leadership role.
• Article in Neue Zurcher Zeitung, Switzerland’s leading newspaper, confirming Ziegler’s ties to Qaddafi Prize.
• United Nations World Food Program chief calls for Ziegler to be removed for harming hungry people

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The post Swiss president responds to N. Korean defectors’ appeal: won’t freeze regime bank accounts unless U.N. requests appeared first on UN Watch.

________________

19 September 2014

Open Letter to the President of the Swiss Confederation
to Freeze Assets of North Korean Leadership in Switzerland

Excellency,
We have experienced and witnessed the gross, systematic and widespread violations of human rights committed by the North Korean regime against its own people, which has been ongoing for many decades.
Because of these atrocities, and for the reasons outlined below, we appeal to you to place an immediate freeze on the financial assets located in your country, Switzerland, held by the North Korean leadership, who are directly responsible for the crimes against their own people.
We make this request based on the following:
(a) Findings of UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea
As you know, the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea’s human rights record found “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State for decades.”
These crimes entail “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”
The UN further found that North Korea “displays many attributes of a totalitarian State: the rule of a single party, led by a single person, is based on an elaborate guiding ideology.”
Consequently, the UN has found that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un bears primary responsibility for these human rights violations. The commission of inquiry reported multiple indications of central government accountability.
(b) Switzerland endorsed creation and findings of UN Commission
Switzerland has a moral responsibility to act on the findings of the commission of inquiry because it played a leading role in its establishment and endorsement. As a member of the Human Rights Council for 2013, Switzerland actively supported the resolution that created the commission of inquiry (A/HRC/RES/22/13) and, moreover, Switzerland was a sponsor of the Council resolution (A/HRC/RES/25/25) which formally adopted the commission’s report on 28 March 2014.
Please note that Resolution 25/25 called on the General Assembly to request the Security Council to consider action to hold to account those responsible for human rights violations and crimes against humanity. The UN resolution specifically calls for consideration of “effective targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible for crimes against humanity.”
Switzerland has no legal or moral reason to wait before proceeding with these vital targeted sanctions. It is incumbent upon Switzerland to match its calls for action in the Human Rights Council by taking action in its own capacity, echoing the grave concerns that have been expressed and affirmed by multiple UN bodies.
(c) Swiss law and prior precedents support case for freezing North Korean assets
Switzerland has every basis in law and prior precedent to act for the people of North Korea. We recall that, acting on these laws, Switzerland in recent years has frozen the assets of several foreign leaders, including Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Switzerland did so in accordance with Swiss laws: the Embargos Act (2002), and the Act on the Restitution of Illicit Assets (RIAA/LRAI 2011). Moreover, in 2014, Switzerland adopted a new law on the issue, theFederal Act on the Freezing and Restitution of Illicitly Acquired Assets of Foreign Politically Exposed Persons, which only underscores the government’s commitment to address this important issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on international law and Swiss domestic law, prior Swiss precedents, and the basic principles of morality and humanity, we respectfully urge Switzerland to immediately freeze all assets of the North Korean leadership, whether held in their names or those of their associates, that are located within its territory.
Sincerely,
Kang Cheol Hwan
Because his grandfather was falsely charged with treason against the nation, all his family members were sent to Camp 15, as guilt by association.
Shin Dong Hyuk
He was born in Camp 14 and witnessed his mother and brother’s public execution. While he was imprisoned in Camp 14, he was subjected to many types of torture.
Ahn Myeong Chul
Because his father committed suicide, his family was sent to a political prison camp, as guilt by association.
Jeong Kwang Il
He was falsely charged with espionage and taken to Camp 15. In Camp 15, he received horrible torture such as pigeon torture, beating, and starvation.
Kim Young Soon
She and all her family members were taken to Camp 15 just because she was a friend of Kim Jong Il’s wife.
Lim Jeong Soo
His father was a prisoner of war, so all his family members were taken to a political prison camp. His father died in a camp from extreme torture. His mother and two brothers died in a camp because of starvation. Also, agents seared his belly with a hot iron. He lived in a camp for 22 years.
Lee Keum Ran
She escaped from North Korea but was caught in China and repatriated to North Korea. After repatriation, she was detained in Camp 15 and witnessed horrible torture committed to other detainees such as forced abortion, beating and so on. She also received horrible torture.
Kim Eun Cheol
He was detained in Camp 15 just because he escaped from North Korea. In Camp 15, he received torture such as beating and starvation. He also witnessed public executions of other prisoners.
Lee Soon Shil
She was repatriated to North Korea from China 9 times and received horrible torture in a labor training camp. Agents seared her body with a hot iron and beat her. Her daughter was trafficked in China.
Kim Tae Jin
He escaped from North Korea but was repatriated to North Korea from China. Then he was detained in Camp 15 and received torture such as beating and forced to sit all day without any movement.
Kim Dong Ram
His son was taken to a political prison camp without any trial just because he escaped from North Korea and interacted with Christianity.
Kim Kwang Hwi
Her family was related to Kim Il Sung’s second wife, Kim Sung Ae. During the 1970s, her family was politically purged and sent to a political prison camp.
Kim Hye Sook
She was taken to a political prison camp when she was only 13 because of guilt by association.
Park Soon Hee
Her co-worker’s family escaped from North Korea, but North Korean agents kidnapped them in China and brought them back to North Korea. They were later sent to a political prison camp just because they escaped from North Korea.
Jeong Hee Soon
She and her daughter escaped from North Korea to earn money in China. In China, her daughter wanted to go to South Korea, but on the way to South Korea, her daughter was caught by the Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea. Later, her daughter was taken to a political prison camp.
Kim Mi Hee
Her family was falsely charged with breaking the statue of Kim Il Sung and taken to a political prison camp. Almost 90 people who were related to her family were also taken to a political prison camp under false charges.
Kwon Young Hee
Her brother escaped from North Korea to earn money in China. However, that time was the national mourning period of Kim Il Sung’s death, so when he was arrested in China and repatriated to North Korea, he was sent to a political prison camp and treated more severely because he escaped from North Korea during the mourning period of Kim Il Sung’s death.
Shin Hye Sook
Her husband frequently crossed a river between North Korea and China to meet his sister in China. However, someone in her town reported him to the National Security Agency, and he was taken to a political prison camp. Also, Shin Hye Sook was forcibly divorced from her husband by the NSA.
Ji Seong Ho
His arm and leg were amputated because of a train accident in North Korea. Because of starvation, he escaped from North Korea but was repatriated to North Korea and received horrible torture. Since he had a physical disability, he was treated more severely than other prisoners in North Korea.
Ji Hyeon Ah
She escaped from North Korea and was repatriated back three times. While she was investigated in the National Security Agency, she received horrible human rights violations and was subjected to forced abortion without anesthesia. Also, when she was detained in a labor detention facility, she witnessed forced abortion and infanticide of other prisoners and prisoners’ babies.

The post Today: As UN debates North Korean human rights, 20 famous survivors of atrocities urge Switzerland to freeze regime bank accounts appeared first on UN Watch.

________________

19 September 2014

Open Letter to the President of the Swiss Confederation
to Freeze Assets of North Korean Leadership in Switzerland

Excellency,
We have experienced and witnessed the gross, systematic and widespread violations of human rights committed by the North Korean regime against its own people, which has been ongoing for many decades.
Because of these atrocities, and for the reasons outlined below, we appeal to you to place an immediate freeze on the financial assets located in your country, Switzerland, held by the North Korean leadership, who are directly responsible for the crimes against their own people.
We make this request based on the following:
(a) Findings of UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in North Korea
As you know, the UN Commission of Inquiry on North Korea’s human rights record found “reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, pursuant to policies established at the highest level of the State for decades.”
These crimes entail “extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons and the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation.”
The UN further found that North Korea “displays many attributes of a totalitarian State: the rule of a single party, led by a single person, is based on an elaborate guiding ideology.”
Consequently, the UN has found that North Korean leader Kim Jong-un bears primary responsibility for these human rights violations. The commission of inquiry reported multiple indications of central government accountability.
(b) Switzerland endorsed creation and findings of UN Commission
Switzerland has a moral responsibility to act on the findings of the commission of inquiry because it played a leading role in its establishment and endorsement. As a member of the Human Rights Council for 2013, Switzerland actively supported the resolution that created the commission of inquiry (A/HRC/RES/22/13) and, moreover, Switzerland was a sponsor of the Council resolution (A/HRC/RES/25/25) which formally adopted the commission’s report on 28 March 2014.
Please note that Resolution 25/25 called on the General Assembly to request the Security Council to consider action to hold to account those responsible for human rights violations and crimes against humanity. The UN resolution specifically calls for consideration of “effective targeted sanctions against those who appear to be most responsible for crimes against humanity.”
Switzerland has no legal or moral reason to wait before proceeding with these vital targeted sanctions. It is incumbent upon Switzerland to match its calls for action in the Human Rights Council by taking action in its own capacity, echoing the grave concerns that have been expressed and affirmed by multiple UN bodies.
(c) Swiss law and prior precedents support case for freezing North Korean assets
Switzerland has every basis in law and prior precedent to act for the people of North Korea. We recall that, acting on these laws, Switzerland in recent years has frozen the assets of several foreign leaders, including Bashar al-Assad of Syria, Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Zine El Abidine Ben Ali of Tunisia, and Muammar Gaddafi of Libya.
Switzerland did so in accordance with Swiss laws: the Embargos Act (2002), and the Act on the Restitution of Illicit Assets (RIAA/LRAI 2011). Moreover, in 2014, Switzerland adopted a new law on the issue, theFederal Act on the Freezing and Restitution of Illicitly Acquired Assets of Foreign Politically Exposed Persons, which only underscores the government’s commitment to address this important issue.
Conclusion
In conclusion, based on international law and Swiss domestic law, prior Swiss precedents, and the basic principles of morality and humanity, we respectfully urge Switzerland to immediately freeze all assets of the North Korean leadership, whether held in their names or those of their associates, that are located within its territory.
Sincerely,
Kang Cheol Hwan
Because his grandfather was falsely charged with treason against the nation, all his family members were sent to Camp 15, as guilt by association.
Shin Dong Hyuk
He was born in Camp 14 and witnessed his mother and brother’s public execution. While he was imprisoned in Camp 14, he was subjected to many types of torture.
Ahn Myeong Chul
Because his father committed suicide, his family was sent to a political prison camp, as guilt by association.
Jeong Kwang Il
He was falsely charged with espionage and taken to Camp 15. In Camp 15, he received horrible torture such as pigeon torture, beating, and starvation.
Kim Young Soon
She and all her family members were taken to Camp 15 just because she was a friend of Kim Jong Il’s wife.
Lim Jeong Soo
His father was a prisoner of war, so all his family members were taken to a political prison camp. His father died in a camp from extreme torture. His mother and two brothers died in a camp because of starvation. Also, agents seared his belly with a hot iron. He lived in a camp for 22 years.
Lee Keum Ran
She escaped from North Korea but was caught in China and repatriated to North Korea. After repatriation, she was detained in Camp 15 and witnessed horrible torture committed to other detainees such as forced abortion, beating and so on. She also received horrible torture.
Kim Eun Cheol
He was detained in Camp 15 just because he escaped from North Korea. In Camp 15, he received torture such as beating and starvation. He also witnessed public executions of other prisoners.
Lee Soon Shil
She was repatriated to North Korea from China 9 times and received horrible torture in a labor training camp. Agents seared her body with a hot iron and beat her. Her daughter was trafficked in China.
Kim Tae Jin
He escaped from North Korea but was repatriated to North Korea from China. Then he was detained in Camp 15 and received torture such as beating and forced to sit all day without any movement.
Kim Dong Ram
His son was taken to a political prison camp without any trial just because he escaped from North Korea and interacted with Christianity.
Kim Kwang Hwi
Her family was related to Kim Il Sung’s second wife, Kim Sung Ae. During the 1970s, her family was politically purged and sent to a political prison camp.
Kim Hye Sook
She was taken to a political prison camp when she was only 13 because of guilt by association.
Park Soon Hee
Her co-worker’s family escaped from North Korea, but North Korean agents kidnapped them in China and brought them back to North Korea. They were later sent to a political prison camp just because they escaped from North Korea.
Jeong Hee Soon
She and her daughter escaped from North Korea to earn money in China. In China, her daughter wanted to go to South Korea, but on the way to South Korea, her daughter was caught by the Chinese police and repatriated to North Korea. Later, her daughter was taken to a political prison camp.
Kim Mi Hee
Her family was falsely charged with breaking the statue of Kim Il Sung and taken to a political prison camp. Almost 90 people who were related to her family were also taken to a political prison camp under false charges.
Kwon Young Hee
Her brother escaped from North Korea to earn money in China. However, that time was the national mourning period of Kim Il Sung’s death, so when he was arrested in China and repatriated to North Korea, he was sent to a political prison camp and treated more severely because he escaped from North Korea during the mourning period of Kim Il Sung’s death.
Shin Hye Sook
Her husband frequently crossed a river between North Korea and China to meet his sister in China. However, someone in her town reported him to the National Security Agency, and he was taken to a political prison camp. Also, Shin Hye Sook was forcibly divorced from her husband by the NSA.
Ji Seong Ho
His arm and leg were amputated because of a train accident in North Korea. Because of starvation, he escaped from North Korea but was repatriated to North Korea and received horrible torture. Since he had a physical disability, he was treated more severely than other prisoners in North Korea.
Ji Hyeon Ah
She escaped from North Korea and was repatriated back three times. While she was investigated in the National Security Agency, she received horrible human rights violations and was subjected to forced abortion without anesthesia. Also, when she was detained in a labor detention facility, she witnessed forced abortion and infanticide of other prisoners and prisoners’ babies.

The post Today: As UN debates North Korean human rights, 20 famous survivors of atrocities urge Switzerland to freeze regime bank accounts appeared first on UN Watch.

GENEVA, September 20, 2013 – A controversial nominee to the U.N. Human Rights Council was today given a 72-hour ultimatum to confess that for the past month he has been engaged in a massive cover-up by lying to the Swiss media over his ties to the Qaddafi Prize, and to withdraw his nomination for the election to be held in the middle of next week. See below the letter sent today to Jean Ziegler.

Although the Swiss parliament’s foreign affairs committee condemned Ziegler’s nomination as “inappropriate,” and U.S. Ambassador Samantha Power said he was “unfit,” Switzerland continues to be his official sponsor. That may change when Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter discovers the extent to which Ziegler lied to him and the Swiss people.

UN Watch is an independent, Geneva-based human rights NGO that over the past decade was the leading group protesting the election of Qaddafi represenatives to key positions in the UN human rights system, and which represented the tortured Bulgarian nurses, the brother of Fathi Eljahmi, and other famous victims and dissidents of the Qaddafi regime.

UN Watch was founded 20 years ago this month by legendary civil rights activist Morris Abram, who worked closely with Rev. Martin Luther King. In the 1960s, Abram served with distinction on the very same UN human rights advisory committee, then known as the Sub-Commission, which Ziegler’s potential membership threatens to dishonor.

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Following is the UN Watch letter sent today.

20 September 2013

Dear Mr. Ziegler,

We demand that within the next 72 hours you:
(a) Confess that for the past month you have lied to and deceived the Swiss people by engaging in a massive cover-up concerning your significant connections with the Muammar Qaddafi Prize for Human Rights, including announcing its creation in 1989, and then receiving the prize in Tripoli at the award ceremony held on the evening of 29 September 2002;
(b) Apologize to the Swiss people, and specifically to Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter, for knowingly deceiving them; and
(c) Acknowledge that your actions of lying and intentionally deceiving the Swiss people on such a massive scale violates the “High moral standing” criteria for election to the UN Human Rights Council Advisory Committee (Res HRC 5/1, par. 67), and announce the withdrawal of your nomination.
If you fail to do so by this Monday, 23 September, UN Watch will release a newly-acquired dossier of documentary, photographic and video evidence concerning the above, which is liable to cause embarassment to those who publicly supported your nomination.
Sincerely,
Hillel C. Neuer
Executive Director

cc:  Swiss Foreign Minister Didier Burkhalter
UN Human Rights Council President Remigiusz A. Henczel
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay

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