MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION
13.6.2006
pursuant to Rule 115 of the Rules of Procedure
by Bastiaan Belder
on behalf of the IND/DEM Group
on human rights violations in North Korea
B6‑0368/06
European Parliament resolution on human rights violations in North Korea
The European Parliament,
- having regard to its previous resolutions on North Korea,
- having regard to its resolution on the Annual report on Human Rights in the World 2005 and the EU's policy on the matter of 18th May 2006,
- having regard to the statement issued by the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) on the DPRK of 31st May 2006,
- having regard to the fact that North Korea is a signatory of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights,
A. whereas there is no freedom of expression, freedom of association, freedom of religion, impartial nor independent judiciary, organized political opposition, independent civil society and freedom of the press in the DPRK,
B. whereas Mr Son Jong Nam, who has lived in China where he attended church and became a Christian, was reportedly tortured by the National Security Agency, and then sentenced to death for alleged treason without a trial, and without the benefit of any of the procedural safeguards required by international human rights law,
C. whereas four United Nations human rights experts, including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, who have called upon the Government of the DPRK to postpone the execution and review the conviction, are dismayed by the response of the Government who characterized the experts' letter as "a product of conspiracy" with "no relevance to genuine human rights",
D. whereas religious believers are targeted through execution, torture, imprisonment and other violations of fundamental human rights,
E. whereas widespread, systematic and grave violations of human rights are officially perpetrated against the population of North Korea, including through the use of a network of political prison camps used to detain an estimated 150,000 to 200,000 political prisoners who are sentenced to lifetime incarceration and hard labour in semi-starvation conditions under severe brutality without any access to judicial procedures,
F. whereas there is systematic, widespread and grave use of torture, disappearance and arbitrary detention and the death penalty is used for religious and political offences,
G. whereas ethnically-motivated infanticide takes place in centres of detention,
H. whereas human rights violations are exacerbated and underpinned by the discriminatory classification of society into various classes according to loyalty to the regime affecting entitlement to fundamental necessities including food and the system of guilt by association under which family members can be punished for the alleged offences of their relatives,
I. whereas many people in the DPRK are short of food and are depending on the humanitarian aid the country receives from donors like the EU, who has decided to allocate the sum of € 13.715.000 to the DPRK in 2005, and the UN World Food Programme, who reached an agreement with the Government on 10th May 2006 to provide 150.000 tons of commodities to 1.9 million North Koreans over two years,
J. whereas tens, very possibly hundreds, of thousands of North Koreans have fled to China, leaving the DPRK, because of the repression and the widespread hunger,
1. Urges the Government of the DPRK to stop the execution of Mr Son Jong Nam and to release him immediately; calls on the Commission and the Council to urge the Government of the DPRK to stop the execution of Mr Son Jong Nam and to release him immediately;
2. Urges the Government of the DPRK to allow religious believers to meet freely for worship, build and maintain places of worship and freely publish religious literature;
3. Urges the Government of the DPRK to end the severe human rights violations, including imprisonment and execution on account of religion or belief, against citizens not affiliated with the state-sponsored religious federations; calls on the Commission and the Council to urge the Government of the DPRK to end these human rights violations;
4. Urges the Government of the DPRK to close all political prison camps and stop other extra-judicial punishments for political offences;
5. Calls on the Government of the DPRK to fulfil its obligations under human rights instruments to which it is a party and ensure that humanitarian organisations, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK and the UN Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief have free access to the country;
6. Welcomes the agreement between the WFP and the Government of the DPRK to support 1.9 million of the most vulnerable people, especially women and young children; deplores the ongoing and unnecessary suffering of the North Korean people as a consequence of the Government's policies; stresses that there should always be a non-discriminatory and fair distribution of food in the country; urges the Government of the DPRK to end discrimination in its distribution of food in favour of high-ranking Workers Party officials, military-, intelligence- and police officers;
7. Calls on the Government of the People's Republic of China to stop repatriating North Korean citizens to the DPRK, where, regardless of their reasons for leaving, they face harsh treatment, ranging form detention to torture, long prison terms and even execution;
8. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the Government of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Government of the People's Republic of China, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, the Chairperson-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, the UN Special Rapporteur on the question of torture and the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK.