UN Commission Of Inquiry Into Human Rights Violations In North Korea

EDM number 1137 in 2012-13, proposed by Frank Field on 04/03/2013.
Categorised under the topics of Asia, Human rights and United Nations.

That this House welcomes the announcements by the South Korean government and the Japanese government stating that they will support the establishment of a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in North Korea; notes that both the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in North Korea have called for an in-depth investigation; is horrified that an estimated 200,000 or more people are currently arbitrarily detained in North Korea's political prison camps, where starvation, torture, extrajudicial executions, slave labour, sexual abuse and rape are a daily reality; is outraged that 400,000 people are estimated to have died in these camps in the past 30 years; further notes that EU member states and Japan were the main sponsors of the UN Human Rights Council's (UNHRC) unopposed 2012 resolution condemning human rights violations in North Korea; further notes that it is likely that a resolution establishing a Commission of Inquiry would be passed by the UNHRC in 2013 especially as traditionally strong supporters of the North Korean regime, China, Russia and Cuba are not members of the UNHRC in 2013; and calls on the Government to lead an effort at the UNHRC later in March 2013 to secure the establishment of a Commission of Inquiry, with a broad mandate and clear time frame to report back into crimes against humanity in the world's most oppressed nation and to put North Korea's horrific human rights record at the centre of the international agenda.

This motion has been signed by a total of 46 MPs.