UN Resolution on North Korea Counterproductive — Lavrov

November 20, 16:43 UTC+3

If the goal is to help all countries to fulfill obligations, then a professional dialogue is needed more, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov says

MOSCOW, November 20. /TASS/. The United Nations resolution on human rights in North Korea that may envisage reference of Pyongyang’s dossier to the International Criminal Court is counterproductive, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said on Thursday.

“On discussing human rights in the DPRK, we voted against the resolution at the UN General Assembly session. We are convinced that the UN structures dealing with human rights and fundamental freedoms should not turn into a certain judicial, prosecutor’s body. In principle the ideas, which are put in the so-called ‘country resolutions’ on Syria, Iran or any other country, are considerably politicised and pursue the goal not rather than to help all countries fulfil the obligations but to publicly punish and state that we toughly condemned,” Lavrov said.

“If our goal is to help all countries fulfil the obligations within the universal documents, aimed at contributing to the respect of human rights and freedoms, a respectful calm professional dialogue is much more in demand,” he said.

The procedure of universal periodic review is introduced in the UN Human Rights Council: every country can present a report on the situation in this sphere. “This is the format where these issues should be discussed. In my view, it is counter-productive to make any loud statements through confrontation resolutions, the General Assembly or the UN Human Rights Council,” he said.

“If the goal is to help all countries to fulfil obligations, then a professional dialogue is needed more,” Lavrov said.