humanrightsnorthkorea08ths

Ellen Greek Period 3 Human Rights Capital Punishment North Korea Capital Punishment I. Background The practice of capital punishment has been in effect ever since the birth of some of the earliest civilizations. One of the worlds very first law systems-Hamurabi’s code- stated “an eye for an eye” or synonymously “a life for a life." There is an age old debate as to whether or not it is right to take another person's life as a consequence for a crime, but many people argue that because the practice has changed from stoning or burning someone at the stake, that capital punishment has become more civil. Currently, only 62 nations still use capital punishment, the other 135 nations have ridden themselves of this practice. II. UN Involvement  In 1945, capital punishment was officially established, and ever since the United Nations has tried to be involved, by holding conferences and passing resolutions. However, they have little power on the issue because they have to respect every country's national sovereignty and therefore have no right to demand the elimination of capital punishment. In addition to writing resolutions, the united nations have also held several conventions on the matter including, the [|Convention on the Rights of the Child], and the [|International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights]. III. Country Policy North Korea does feel the need to practice capital punishment in order to maintain the peace and prosperity of our nation. Although our methods maybe are more severe than some, we feel that it is because of this that our crime rates are some of the lowest in the world. North Korea feels that several resolutions passed by the United Nations such as the Commission on Human Rights Resolution 2002/77, which called for the abolition of capital punishment for all crimes, are attacks to our countries national sovereignty. Therefore, we have refused to sign any resolutions on this issue. IV. Solutions North Korea does frequently practice capital punishment and has refused to sign any resolutions or treaties concerning the subject. We believe that a country should have the legal right to continue using capital punishment in order to maintain the safety and order in that country.

V. Bibliography http://asiadeathpenalty.blogspot.com/2007/12/north-korea-shot-for-making-phone-calls.html http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capital_punishment http://www.amnesty.org/en/library/info/ASA24/007/2004/en

Ellen Greek Period 3 Human Rights Rights of POWs North Korea Prisoners of War

I. Background

A prisoner of war is a soldier who was captured by enemy forces and imprisoned. Although they are captives, these prisoners still have certain rights and have to obey the order of the ones holding them captive. The ideas of the 1907 Hague Convention were expanded in the Third Geneva Convention of 1929 to explain rights that prisoners of war have. The main point that this convention stated was that it is illegal to torture prisoners, and states that a prisoner can only be required to give their name, date of birth, rank and service number. However, dispite the efforts of these conventions to improve POW rights, many countries still have varying servierities on how to punish thier prisoners of war.

II. UN involvement

Ever since the first Geneva Convention, the united nations has been activly involved in the issue of POW rights. one such effort would be establishing the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, which is a group whose job is to investigate the treatment of prisoners of war in various contries. In addition to this, the united nations have held four Geneva Conventions which address the rights of POWs as well as their responsiblities. Despite these attempts at creating a better enviroment for prisoners of war, the united nations is still working on resolving this issue.

III. Country Policy

North Korea does believe that it is necessary to capture and imprison combats of war as we have done in the past. We feel that it is our national sovereignty to treat them and punish them in ways that we feel appropriate. It is also stated specifically in the Geneva Conventions that a country has the right to punish their captives for any war crimes that they might have committed. North Korea believes that every country should have the right to keep prisoners of war and that to tell a country how to treat their prisoners would be infringing on their national sovereignty.

IV. Solutions

North Korea feels that all prisoners of war should be treated with a certain amount of respect, however the amount of respect and the privileges that they are given is a decision that should be made by the country and NOT the united nations. We also feel that the Geneva conventions should no longer be held, because they are a waste of time and the things state in them are an attack to a country's national sovereignty.

V. Bibliography

http://www.unhchr.ch/html/menu3/b/91.htm [|www.hrw.org/press/2003/03/**pow**032403.htm] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prisoner_of_war