Old Catholic Church Raise Concerns with United Nations Over North Korea Human Rights Issues

Archbishop Gary Beaver of the Old Catholic Church of Great Britain has made an official petition to both the European Union and U.N. to address the restrictions of religious freedom and human rights abuses in North Korea. The Archbishop has also passed a request to the North Korean Government asking for their cooperation in ensuring that Christian humanitarian organisations will be permitted full and safe access to all parts of the country to distribute aid.

Humanitarian organisations and all non-governmental European aid groups have been ordered to leave North Korea by the 31st December after the recent EU sponsored UN resolution expressed "serious concern at continuing reports of systemic, widespread and grave violations of human rights, including torture, public executions, the existence of a large number of prison camps and the extensive use of forced labour."

"We just cannot ignore these problems. These problems can only be addressed through bipartisan and multi-religious cooperation" said Archbishop Gary Beaver.

The Archbishop’s "Doing Hard Time for God!" project has identified the following: (1) Darfur, the region of Western Sudan where approximately 400,000 have died and about 2.5 million have been displaced in the last three years during armed conflict with the government-sponsored militia; (2) North Korea, where the communist regime is responsible for the widespread repression of human rights; (3) Burma, ruled over by a military junta that is responsible for religious persecution and other human rights violations; (4) the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where it is estimated that more than 30,000 people die each month and 2.2 million are displaced, and (5) Northern Uganda, where the Resistance Army has abducted an estimated 21,000 children and turned them into soldiers.

The Old Catholic Church are calling for all religious leaders of all faiths to assist by entering into serious dialogue seeking deeper understanding.