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Motion for a resolution - B7-0412/2014Motion for a resolution
B7-0412/2014

MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on North Korea

15.4.2014 - (2014/2696(RSP))

with request for inclusion in the agenda for a debate on cases of breaches of human rights, democracy and the rule of law
pursuant to Rule 122 of the Rules of Procedure

Jelko Kacin, Marietje Schaake, Sarah Ludford, Louis Michel, Leonidas Donskis, Phil Bennion, Graham Watson, Izaskun Bilbao Barandica, Kristiina Ojuland, Hannu Takkula, Ramon Tremosa i Balcells, Johannes Cornelis van Baalen, Robert Rochefort, Marielle de Sarnez on behalf of the ALDE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B7-0388/2014

Procedure : 2014/2696(RSP)
Document stages in plenary
Document selected :  
B7-0412/2014

B7‑0412/2014

European Parliament resolution on North Korea

(2014/2696(RSP))

The European Parliament,

–       having regard to its previous resolutions on the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK),

–       having regard to the Foreign Affairs Council conclusions of 18 February 2013 on the DPRK,

–       having regard to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and to all relevant international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights, adopted and ratified by the DPRK,

–       having regard to the 1984 Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment,

–       having regard to the relevant resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council, notably that adopted on 28 March 2014 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea,

–       having regard to the report of 1 February 2013 by the UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, Marzuki Darusman,

-       having regard to the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on North Korea report of 17 February 2014,

–       having regard to Rule 110(2) and (4) of its Rules of Procedure,

 

A. whereas the UN Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on North Korea concluded there were widespread, systematic breaches of human rights happening in the DPRK on a scale so large that it is unparalleled in the world;

B. whereas the CoI found that crimes against humanity committed in the DPRK include the extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, and imprisonment; rape, forced abortion, and other sexual violence; persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds; the forcible transfer of populations, enforced disappearances and knowingly causing prolonged starvation;

C. whereas the CoI reports that the political systems uses enforced disappearances to prison camps and public executions to control the population through fear;

D. whereas the DPRK regime has not cooperated with the UN and has rejected all UN Human Rights Council and General Assembly resolutions regarding human rights in North Korea;

E. whereas it has failed to cooperate with the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the country, and has rejected all assistance from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;

F. whereas the European Union is a strong promoter of human rights and democracy in the world; whereas the human rights situation in the DPRK continues to deteriorate;

G. whereas the DPRK Government suppresses the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion and does not allow freedom of expression, opinion, information and association;

H. whereas the CoI estimates that between 80,000 and 120,000 political prisoners are interned in prison and ‘re-education’ camps; whereas serious concerns have been raised about the conditions under which these prisoners are being forced to work, for example in the mining and logging sectors.

I. whereas the people of the DPRK have been exposed to inefficient economic production and discriminatory resource allocation that leads to avoidable starvation, mass food shortages and famine that have significant implications for a wide spectrum of human rights;

J. whereas DPRK citizens are divided into three tiers and 51 categories based on a range of factors linked to party loyalty that forms the Songbun class system;

K. whereas the North Korean regime is estimated to have kidnapped 200,000 third-country nationals since 1950, including women abducted so they could be taken as wives according to the CoI findings;

L. whereas violence against women is widespread including public beatings and sexual assault on women by public officials; whereas women and girls are vulnerable to trafficking and forced sex work;

 

 

 

1.  Reiterates its call for the DPRK to put an immediate end to the grave, widespread and systematic human rights violations perpetrated against its own people and condemns the crimes and the impunity associated with DPKR atrocities;

2.  Expresses its deepest concern human rights situation in the DPRK described in the CoI report;

3.  Express strong support for CoI’s recommendations. Welcomes the leadership provided by the EEAS and EU member states and stresses the importance of determined EU follow-up in line with the CoI recommendations, in particular to ensure an ICC referral and the adoption of targeted punitive sanctions by the UN Security Council;

4.  Welcome the UN HRC’s DPRK resolution that clearly condemns DPRK crimes, and show support for the victims and the tortured population of DPRK;

5.  Requests the EEAS to ensure that the implementation of the CoI’s recommendations be a standing item on the agenda of human rights dialogues and other meetings with third countries, in particular the dialogues with Russia and China; further requests the EEAS and the EU Special Representative for human rights to ensure that all EEAS ambassadors are briefed about the CoI’s report and understand that they are tasked with ensuring world-wide support for UN Security Council action as recommended by the CoI;

6.  Calls on the Government of the DPRK to fulfil its obligations under the human rights instruments to which it is a party, and to ensure that humanitarian organisations, independent human rights monitors and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK have access to the country and are provided with the necessary cooperation;

7.  Deplores the lack of cooperation of the DPRK with the international human rights institutions, and particularly its refusal to follow the procedures of the UN Human Rights Council;

8.  Calls on the DPRK government to end all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty in the near future;

9.  calls on the DPRK to put an end to extrajudicial killings and enforced disappearances, to release political prisoners and to allow its citizens to travel freely, both within and outside the country;

10.  calls on the DPRK to allow free expression and press freedom for national and international media, and to allow its citizens uncensored access to the internet;

11.  Call on the government of the DPRK to ensure to provide all information on the third-country nationals who are suspected to have been kidnapped by North Korean state agents since 1950, and to release immediately those abductees still being held in the country;

12.  calls on the Commission to maintain existing humanitarian aid programmes and channels of communication with the DPRK, and to secure their safe delivery to the targeted parts of the population;

13.  Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Vice-President of the Commission / High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, the Council, the Commission, the EU Special Representative on Human Rights, the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Government of the Republic of Korea, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, and the UN Secretary-General.