VOA标准英语--2016年朝鲜人权报告

 

North Korea is an authoritarian¹ state led by the Kim family for more than 60 years. According to the newly released annual State Department Human Rights Report, human rights conditions in North Korea remain abysmal².

The government subjects citizens to rigid³ controls over many aspects of their lives, including denial of the freedoms of speech, press, assembly, association, religion, movement, and worker rights.

The government operates a network of political prison camps in which conditions are often harsh, life threatening, and include forced and compulsory⁴ labor⁵. According to the 2015 Korea Institute for National Unification white paper, the Ministry⁶ of State Security administered prison camps, or kwanliso camps. There were reportedly between 5,000 and 50,000 prisoners in each of the five kwanliso.

Reports indicated that conditions in the prison camp and detention⁷ system were harsh and life threatening and that systematic⁸ and severe human rights abuse occurred. Detainees and prisoners consistently reported violence and torture, and defectors described witnessing public executions in political prison camps.

Numerous defector accounts and non-governmental organization reports describe the use of torture by authorities in several detention facilities.Methods of torture and other abuse reportedly included severe beatings; electric shock; prolonged periods of exposure to the elements; humiliations such as public nakedness; confinement⁹ for up to several weeks in small “punishment cells” in which prisoners were unable to stand upright or lie down, among others.

Mothers were, in some cases, reportedly forced to watch the infanticide of their newborn children. Defectors continued to report many prisoners died from torture, disease, starvation, exposure to the elements, or a combination of these causes.

The 2016 White Paper on Human Rights in North Korea, published by the Korea Institute for National Unification and the 2014 UN Commission of Inquiry¹⁰ report stated that officials had in some cases prohibited live births in prison and ordered forced abortions¹¹ as recently as 2013.

"Promoting human rights and democratic governance is a core element of U.S. foreign policy,” said U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson. These human rights reports, he said, "demonstrate the United States' unwavering commitment to advancing liberty, human dignity, and global prosperity" – including in North Korea.

1 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

2 abysmal   

adj.无底的，深不可测的，极深的；糟透的，极坏的；完全的

参考例句：

• The film was so abysmal that I fell asleep.电影太糟糕，看得我睡着了。
• There is a historic explanation for the abysmal state of Chinese cuisine in the United States.中餐在美国的糟糕状态可以从历史上找原因。

3 rigid   

adj.严格的，死板的；刚硬的，僵硬的

参考例句：

• She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
• The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严，几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。

4 compulsory   

n.强制的，必修的；规定的，义务的

参考例句：

• Is English a compulsory subject?英语是必修课吗？
• Compulsory schooling ends at sixteen.义务教育至16岁为止。

5 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

6 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

7 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

8 systematic   

adj.有系统的，有计划的，有方法的

参考例句：

• The way he works isn't very systematic.他的工作不是很有条理。
• The teacher made a systematic work of teaching.这个教师进行系统的教学工作。

9 confinement   

n.幽禁，拘留，监禁；分娩；限制，局限

参考例句：

• He spent eleven years in solitary confinement.他度过了11年的单独监禁。
• The date for my wife's confinement was approaching closer and closer.妻子分娩的日子越来越近了。

10 inquiry   

n.打听，询问，调查，查问

参考例句：

• Many parents have been pressing for an inquiry into the problem.许多家长迫切要求调查这个问题。
• The field of inquiry has narrowed down to five persons.调查的范围已经缩小到只剩5个人了。

11 abortions   

n.小产( abortion的名词复数 )；小产胎儿；（计划）等中止或夭折；败育

参考例句：

• The Venerable Master: By not having abortions, by not killing living beings. 上人：不堕胎、不杀生。 来自互联网
• Conclusion Chromosome abnormality is one of the causes of spontaneous abortions. 结论：染色体异常是导致反复自然流产的原因之一。 来自互联网