|
 In a speech to the Council in Geneva, Kerry also exhorted the
47-member-state group to look into what he described as severe
abuses in separatist-controlled areas of eastern Ukraine as well as
in Crimea, annexed by Russia from Ukraine last year.
He also condemned North Korea's human rights record as "appalling"
and said tens of thousands of people there lived "as virtual
slaves". Kerry added, "There is no freedom of expression, worship or
political dissent.
"Kim Jong-un executes those who disagree with him, purging his
country of anyone he knows, or imagines, to be disloyal. For decades
the government has subjugated its citizens, starving and torturing
and incarcerating them or worse."
Kerry offered a strong defense of Israel against what he called the
council's unbalanced focus on the country.
"It must be said that the HRC’s obsession with Israel actually risks
undermining the credibility of the entire organization," Kerry said.
[to top of second column] |
"The United States will measure these things, I hope, fairly and
dispassionately but we will oppose any effort by any group or
participant in the U.N. system to arbitrarily and regularly
de-legitimize or isolate Israel."
(Reporting by Arshad Mohammed; Editing by Mark Heinrich)
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