U.N. committee urges N. Korea to improve children`s rights

SEOUL, Feb. 1 (Yonhap) -- A human rights monitoring agency under the United
Nations recently urged North Korea to improve human rights conditions of its
children and allow them better access to information through books and the
Internet, according to a civic group Sunday.
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), one of seven U.N.-linked human
rights treaty bodies, in its recent recommendatory report to North Korea
expressed concern over its children's overall questionable human rights
conditions, including their lack of access to the Internet and books, as well as
the lack of freedom of religion, according to the Citizens' Alliance for North
Korean Human Rights.
The CRC also advised North Korea to correct its practice of mobilizing children
in its annual Arirang mass games, a gymnastic display involving some 100,000
performers. In addition, it warned against taking newborn triplets away from
parents to rear them in Pyongyang for state promotional purposes.
North Korea was also advised by the CRC in 1998 and 2004. The latest report was
delivered to the North Korean mission in Geneva two weeks ago, according to the
group.
odissy@yna.co.kr
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