On 1 August 2005, the attending NGOs from Japan, South Korea,
the United States of America, and Myanmar have resolved to demand
an immediate halt to the ongoing inhumanities and grave violations
of human rights in North Korea (Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea) and the immediate release of all victims abducted by
North Korea. The NGOs also express deep concern over the behavior
of the government of China (People’s Republic of China),
which appears to be collaborating in serious violations of human
rights with the government of North Korea.
North Korean refugees flee from starvation in their homeland,
but the Chinese government has persistently denied them even
the opportunity to apply for the status of refugee. The Chinese
government, instead, insists that they are “illegal immigrants” and
arrests them as criminals.
The North Korean government classes repatriated North Korean
refugees as political criminals and punishes them under their
Criminal Code Article 47, clearly demonstrating the current absence
of human rights in North Korea.
Furthermore, it has been proven that the North Korean government
has repeatedly committed the state crime of directing secret
agents to abduct citizens of other countries, including Japan,
South Korea and Europe. The North Korean government continues
to hold most of these abductees while lying that they are not
alive, and supplying false ashes as attempts to document death.
They also continue to withhold information on the abductees that
could be used to return them to their home countries.
The Chinese government continues the illegal arrest of suffering
North Korean refugees and of humanitarian aid workers caught
attempting to help those refugees. It has been documented that
Chinese authorities return many arrested North Korean refugees.
We condemn the behavior of the Chinese government, which stubbornly
disregards international practices and the UN Convention on Refugees.
This fact dishonors China as a permanent member of United Nations,
and as a nation responsible for helping to maintain international
peace and order.
Nearly 10,000 North Korean refugees have now been accepted by
the South Korean government. The great efforts of the South Korean
government deserve our respect. Recently, however, there have
been cases where official South Korean agencies abroad have denied
protection to North Korean refugees. This recent change by the
South Korean government deeply concerns us, since that government
is expected to play the leading role in providing protection
to these refugees.
Based on the spirit of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
we, the participant NGOs, have resolved to recommend that all
participant parliamentary members actively pursue the following
actions:
| I. |
Immediately
set up an international mission to survey human rights
and urge the North Korean government to accept the mission
and permit its survey activities in North Korea. The survey
results are to be published internationally in written
reports. The survey shall include at least:
|
| |
1. |
Investigation
into the actual conditions of concentration camps and gulags,
including the lists of the detained people showing the
names of the survivors and the deceased.
|
| |
2. |
Investigation
into how the North Korean refugees repatriated from China
are treated and reintegrated into society in their homeland.
|
| |
3. |
Investigation
into the current situation of victims abducted from other
countries to North Korea.
|
| |
4. |
Whereabouts
and condition of missing former ethnic Koreans in Japan
who went to North Korea, as well as Japanese spouses and
children who accompanied them.
|
| II. |
We
recommend that the human rights survey mission take the
following actions in cooperation with other related international
organizations:
|
| |
1. |
To
investigate the current condition of all political prisoner camps whose
existence has been proven by satellite photographs and
the testimony of people who survived those prisoner camps,
and to achieve the release of the political prisoners.
|
| |
2. |
To
carry out thorough investigation into the distribution of international
food aid, and to publish results of the investigation internationally.
|
| III. |
If
the North Korean government refuses to accept the human
rights survey mission, then urge the international community
to halt its supply of aid to North Korea.
|
| IV. |
The
Chinese government has made itself an accomplice of the
regime that suppresses human rights. It has done this by
illegally arresting and repatriating North Korean refugees
who have fled starvation and oppression in their homeland
and also by arresting and detaining humanitarian aid workers
who attempt to help those North Korean refugees. The participant
parliamentary members are urged to declare that holding
the Olympics in China would be contrary to the Olympic
spirit if the current human rights conditions in China
remain unchanged, and to admonish the Olympic Committee
to change the venue of the 2008 Olympics from Beijing to
other country.
|
| V. |
The
participant parliamentary members are requested to urge
their respective governments to subsidize the survey expenses,
and to invite participation by related NGOs in the international
human rights survey mission. The parliamentary members
are also urged to work with countries bordering North Korea
in order to protect the North Koreans who have fled into
any of those neighboring countries, so as to halt the repatriation.
|
| VI. |
The
parliamentary members are requested to take leadership
roles in preparing legislation that will allow resettlement
of North Korean refugees in their countries and establish
self-support systems for the refugees.
|
| VII. |
The
parliamentary members are requested to urge the governments
of all related countries, including their own, to make
every possible effort, including the invoking of economic
sanctions, to resolve the abduction issue. |
