UNGA high-level meeting to address the human rights abuses and violations being committed in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
Statement delivered by H.E. Rytis Paulauskas, Permanent Representative of Lithuania on behalf of the Baltic States
New York, 20 May 2025
Mr. President,
I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Baltic States Estonia, Latvia, and my own Lithuania. We align ourselves with the statement delivered by the European Union.
We welcome today’s discussion and thank the civil society representatives for their critical and moving testimonies. We, the Baltic states, remain seriously concerned about the persistent, widespread, and systematic human rights violations in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). The scale of repression, including the extreme restrictions on civil liberties and fundamental freedoms, remains among the most severe globally.
The prolonged closure of the DPRK’s borders by regime of North Korea has significantly exacerbated an already dire humanitarian crisis. Food insecurity has reached its gravest level in decades: the World Food Programme estimates that 10.7 million people—more than 40 per cent of the population—are under-nourished. The UN Special Rapporteur has warned that the country is “facing the worst humanitarian crisis since the disastrous famine in the late 1990s. Access to essential medicines and health services remains critically limited, as international humanitarian personnel are still denied entry by North Korea regime. These conditions have a particularly harmful effect on the most vulnerable part of population, including women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities.
We commend civil society actors and human rights NGOs for their vital work in documenting violations and bringing forward the voices of survivors and escapees. Their testimonies constitute an essential source of evidence, contributing to the exposure of human rights violations, guiding policy formulation and informing the international community’s response – today’s meeting is a point in case.
Also, we are gravely concerned by the DPRK’s extensive military cooperation with the Russian Federation. Reports of direct and indirect assistance to Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, including the deployment of thousands of DPRK troops, are deeply troubling and constitute clear violations of UN Security Council resolutions. We strongly condemn these violations, including the recent mutual defense pact between Russia and North Korea and call for an immediate cessation of all illicit arms transfers.
These actions of those two states constitute clear violations of international law and further intensify the suffering of both the population of DPRK and civilians affected by armed conflict beyond its borders, notably in Ukraine.
Mr. President,
The findings of the UN Commission of Inquiry on the DPRK, over the past decade, provide undeniable evidence of grave human rights violations, including forced labor, arbitrary detention, enforced disappearances and acts of torture, which may amount to crimes against humanity. Recent reports confirm ongoing atrocities such as extrajudicial executions, widespread torture, mass starvation and reprisals against defectors’ families.
We are particularly alarmed by the widespread use of sexual and gender-based violence. Women and girls, especially those in detention or forcibly repatriated, face sexual violence, forced abortions, inhumane detention conditions and forced labor, all in a context of total impunity.
The Commission of Inquiry on the DPRK established responsibility at the highest level of government for ongoing crimes against humanity.
In this context, we urge the UN Security Council to take meaningful steps, including considering referral of the situation to the International Criminal Court and applying targeted sanctions to those responsible for or complicit in these crimes.
We echo the 1718 Committee call for members to offset the Panel of Experts’ absence by supplying timely, verifiable data. We also urge the Council to set up interim monitoring—through a short-term Secretariat cell or partnerships with existing analytical bodies—to preserve objective oversight until the Panel is reinstated.
Thank you.
