MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities

5.4.2022 - (2022/2620(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 144 of the Rules of Procedure

Markéta Gregorová, Ignazio Corrao, Francisco Guerreiro, Hannah Neumann, Bronis Ropė
on behalf of the Verts/ALE Group

See also joint motion for a resolution RC-B9-0183/2022

NB: This motion for a resolution is available in the original language only.

B9‑0184/2022

European Parliament resolution on human rights situation in North Korea, including the persecution of religious minorities

(2022/2620(RSP))

The European Parliament,

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

–  having regard to its  "Recommendation to the VPC/HR and to the Council in preparation of the 10th Non-Proliferation of nuclear weapons Treaty review process, nuclear arms control and nuclear disarmament options" of 21 October 2020,

–  having regard to the “G7 Foreign Ministers’ Statement on the launch of an Intercontinental Ballistic Missile by North Korea” of 25 March 2022,

–  having regard to the statements by the HR/VP Josep Borrell of 11 January 2022 and of 22 March 2022 on North Korea’s launches of missiles,

–  having regard to the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea of March 2022,

–  having regard to the resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly on 16 December 2020 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,

–  having regard to the relevant resolutions of the UN Human Rights Council, notably the one adopted on 23 March 2021 on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,

–  having regard to the report of the Commission of Inquiry (CoI) on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea of February 2014,

–  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 1951 UN Convention on the Status of Refugees and the 1967 Protocol thereto,

–  having regard to Rule 144 of its Rules of Procedure,

 

1. Whereas the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) remains one of the most repressive countries in the world; whereas in the DPRK, the state claims absolute control over every aspect of its citizens' lives, absolute monopoly over information, movement inside and outside the country and social life, while maintaining fearful obedience in the population through threats of execution, imprisonment, enforced disappearances, and forced hard labour in detention and prison camps;

 

2. whereas in the DPRK extrajudicial, summary and arbitrary executions, torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, collective punishments extending up to three generations, extensive use of forced labour continue unhampered; whereas the government practices forcible transfer of populations while imposing strict limits on citizens' movements inside and outside the country, arbitrary detention and disappearances, including in the form of abductions of foreign nationals, interning according to various estimations between 150 000 to 200 000 people in prison and ‘re-education' camps; whereas the Kwanliso (political prison camps) are fundamental to the control of the population, epitomizing the systemic nature of human rights violations in North Korea;

 

3. whereas with its brutal human rights violations the regime is also systematically targeting religious minorities, including Korean Buddhism, Catholicism, Cheondogyo, North Korean Shamanism, and Protestantism;

 

4. whereas the people of the DPRK have been exposed to decades of under-development, with poor health care and high levels of maternal and child malnutrition, in a context of political and economic isolation, recurrent natural disasters and international increases in food and fuel prices; whereas large parts of the population are dependent on international food aid;

 

5. whereas in addition to the violations suffered by the general population, women and girls in North Korea are the target of a range of sexual and gender-based abuses with Government officials both perpetrating and failing to effectively respond to rights violations including widespread gender discrimination, sexual and gender-based violence;

 

6. whereas the human rights violations in the DPRK, some rising to the level of international crimes, and the general human rights situation have even worsened over the past years, exacerbated by the COVID 19 pandemic leading to North Korea being more isolated than ever;

 

7. whereas prolonged full-scale border shutdown and travel restrictions between cities and regions since January 2020 as well as oppressive control over the population has further tightened, including through shoot-on-sight orders at the borders and an “anti-reactionary thought” law that includes the death penalty for accessing information from abroad;

 

8. whereas chronic food insecurity remains widespread, and has likely worsened with the collapse of trade following the closure of the country’s borders; whereas segments of the population, especially vulnerable populations, may be facing hunger and starvation;

 

9. whereas DPRK’s pursuit of illegal nuclear and ballistic missile programmes constitutes a challenge to the international nuclear non-proliferation regime and risks aggravating regional tensions; whereas DPRK’s blatant violations of international law and its focus on military investment, diverts resources from its own people, preventing economic development and undermining the welfare of its people; whereas the EU strongly supports the idea of a nuclear-free Korean peninsula, and considers the resumption of the Six-Party Talks to be essential for peace, security and stability in the region; whereas the EU stands ready to support any other meaningful diplomatic process;

 

10. whereas the EU-DPRK political dia­logue with North Korea ceased in 2015;

 

11. whereas the EU’s sanctions regime against North Korea, inherently linked to and built upon the respective resolutions of the UN Security Council, constitutes one of the most comprehensive sanctions regime currently in operation in the EU;
     

 

1. Reiterates its strongest condemnation of the decade-long state terror exercised in a systematic manner by the present and past Supreme Leaders of the DPRK and the affiliated administrators, and calls on Kim Jong Un to stop the policy of extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape, forced abortions and other sexual violence, persecution on political, religious, racial and gender grounds, the forcible transfer of populations, the enforced disappearance of persons, the inhumane act of knowingly causing prolonged starvation and the institutionalised impunity for the perpetrators;
2. Is appalled by the conditions of detention across the penal system, including the denial of health, torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment and punishment, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, forced labour, rape and other forms of sexual violence, denial of the right to life, denial of the right to a fair trial, as well as violations of the rights of vulnerable detainees, including women, persons with disabilities, and juveniles;
3. Notes that the DPRK's dire humanitarian situation that has been exacerbated by natural disasters and the pandemic; calls on DPRK to work with international organisations, including the Coronavirus (Covid-19) Vaccine Global Access (COVAX), to ensure the timely delivery and distribution of Covid-19 vaccines to its people;
4. Believes that the leadership of the DPRK has failed its fundamental obligation to protect its population from mass atrocities and therefore calls on the UN Security Council to take urgent measures to increase the pressure on the North Korean state to fulfil its primary responsibility;
5. Notes that the People’s Republic of China remains the main supporter of the DPRK and accounts for more than 90 percent of its total reported imports and exports as well as being its main supplier of foreign currency in violation of international sanctions;
6. Points to the fact that the human rights violations, many of which constitute crimes against humanity, have been taking place for far too long under the observing eyes of the international community; appeals to the EU Member States and all members of the UN General Assembly to move the suffering of the North Korean population higher on their political agenda, including by re-debating North Korea’s human rights record as a formal item on the agenda of the UNSC;
7. Urges the international community to work towards the long overdue referral of the situation in the DPRK to the International Criminal Court for prosecution;
8. Calls for further sanctions against the North Korean individuals, who can be associated with grave and systematic human rights violations, including under the EU Global Human Rights Sanctions Regime;
9. Calls on the EEAS and the EU Member States to support the UN structures and mechanisms to ensure accountability for the crimes through continued collection of evidence and documentation, with a view to ending impunity for the North Korean government’s serious abuses;
10. Welcomes the renewal of the mandate of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK; regrets that the Seoul field office of the Office of the High Commissionaire of Human Rights (OHCHR) remains understaffed, and urges members of the UN and the OHCHR to support the mechanism and ensure it is provided with all necessary staff and resources.
11. Calls on the DPRK authorities to declare a moratorium on all executions, with a view to abolishing the death penalty in the near future; 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; 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;
12. 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 unhindered access to the country and are provided with the necessary cooperation; in this context, calls on the DPRK authorities to ensure access of independent human rights monitors to its penal system and cooperate with them with a view to working with relevant international actors to reform its penal and judicial systems;
13. Calls on the government to urgently resolve the issue of systematic abduction of persons including from other countries and calls urgently on the government to ensure the immediate return of abductees;
14. Reiterates its call on those countries who are recipients of refugees from the DPRK to respect the 1951 Geneva Convention and the 1967 protocol and to imperatively refrain from cooperating in any form with the DPRK administration on the extradition or repatriation of North Korean citizens;
15. Expresses its concern about the severity of the food situation the country is facing and its impact on the economic, social and cultural rights of the population; 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; calls on the DPRK authorities to immediately end restrictions on imports of food, medicine, and basic needs, and to immediately ensure access for all citizens to food and humanitarian assistance on the basis of need, in accordance with humanitarian principles, as well as permitting aid staff to return to the country to distribute and monitor distribution of aid;
16. Welcomes any humanitarian project between the two Koreas, such as reunions of separated South and North Korean families, that can concretely ease the suffering of the population and calls on both governments to increase these type of initiatives;
17. Strongly condemns the launch by the DPRK of an inter-continental ballistic missile (ICBM) on 24 March 2022 as an unnecessary and dangerous provocation, which is a violation of multiple UN Security Council resolutions and a serious threat to international and regional peace and security; calls on the DPRK to refrain from any further action that could increase international or regional tensions and to comply with UN Security Council resolutions by abandoning all its nuclear weapons, other weapons of mass destruction, ballistic missile programmes and existing nuclear programmes, in a complete, verifiable and irreversible manner, and cease immediately all related activities and to comply immediately with all its international obligations and law, including the UN Security Council and IAEA Board of Governors resolutions as well as other international disarmament and non-proliferation norms and resume dialogue with relevant partners;
18. Welcomes the EU’s sanction regime as well as its expressed readiness to support any meaningful diplomatic process; encourages the EU and Member States to develop a strategy complementing the EU’s sanction regime, in line with the EU’s Global strategy, considering the resumption of the political dia­logue with North Korea, when the time is ripe, with a view to integrating human rights, denuclearisation and peace initiatives in its engagement with the DPRK;
19. 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 Government of the People’s Republic of China, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the DPRK, and the UN Secretary-General.