Japan and the European Union on Friday submitted to a U.N. General Assembly panel a draft resolution denouncing widespread human rights violations in North Korea.

More than 40 countries including the United States, South Korea and European countries co-sponsored the motion at the time of its submission to the assembly's Third Committee on social and humanitarian issues.

Its adoption, expected as early as this month, would mark the 11th year in a row for a resolution on this theme to be endorsed by the international organization.

As in the previous year's document, the resolution on the human rights situation in North Korea notes "reasonable grounds to believe that crimes against humanity have been committed" according to "policies established at the highest level" of the state for decades.

It also calls on Pyongyang to shut down its "extensive system of political prison camps" that deprive a vast number of people of their liberty and subjects them to "deplorable conditions."

Among other issues, it also urges the country to address its abductions of foreigners "in a transparent manner" and ensure their immediate return, a hot issue in Japan, which lost several people to kidnappings by Pyongyang agents decades ago.