Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this House:

(1) notes:

(a) the United Nations Human Rights Council's Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK) released on 17 February 2014;

(b) the gravity, scale and nature of human rights violations and crimes against humanity which have been and are being committed systematically by the DPRK, including murder, enslavement, starvation, torture, rape and persecution on the grounds of race, religion and gender, and other inhumane acts;

(c) first hand testimony from DPRK refugees, escapees and asylum seekers;

(d) the political and security apparatus of the DPRK and the use of tactics including surveillance, selective distribution of food, fear, public executions and forced disappearances; and

(e) the crimes against humanity against non-DPRK citizens through international abduction and forced repatriation;

(2) recognises the significance of the public hearings held by the commission of inquiry, in informing the report;

(3) acknowledges the work of the Chair of the commission of inquiry, the Hon. Michael Kirby AC CMG, and his important contribution to improved international understanding and capacity to respond to the state of human rights in the DPRK; and

(4) calls on the Government to take all available steps to:

(a) support the recommendations of the report;

(b) urge United Nations action on the findings of the report; and

(c) support efforts to hold those responsible for crimes accountable through the International Criminal Court.

I rise today to draw attention to the United Nations Human Rights Council's Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. The report is the outcome of 12 months' work since the UN's Human Rights Council established a commission to investigate the systematic and widespread violations of human rights in North Korea. While no-one with any interest in world affairs would be shocked to hear that the North Korean regime engages in systematic human rights abuses, this report was drafted with a view to ensuring that those responsible for these abuses will be held accountable. The report also provides a great degree of authority, through extensive evidence of crimes and through a greater level of detailed research and reporting than previous reports. As the commission's statement said on the report's release:

The gravity, scale and nature of these violations reveal a State that does not have any parallel in the contemporary world.

That a rigorous inquiry, with firsthand testimony, was carried out in a transparent way following due process, is a very important first step to ensure that the world is aware of what is taking place inside North Korea.

The extensive public hearings were a vital feature of the inquiry. The Commission of Inquiry conducted public hearings—in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington—during which almost 80 victims and witnesses of human rights violations, as well as experts, provided testimony on the human rights situation in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. An additional 240 victims and witnesses who feared reprisals for their testimony against family members who remain in North Korea were able to give evidence confidentially to the commission and its secretariat. Through these public hearings and interviews, the commission found that systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights have been and are being committed in North Korea, based on state policies—that is, the policies of the government.

The report breaks down the human rights violations into a number of discrete categories, finding: widespread violations of the freedoms of thought, expression and religion; discrimination; violations of the freedom of movement and residence; violations of the right to food and the right to life; arbitrary detention, torture, executions and prison camps; and abductions and enforced disappearances, including even from other countries. The report focuses on the consideration of crimes against humanity committed against six groups of victims: inmates of political prison camps; inmates of the ordinary prison system, in particular, political prisoners among them; religious believers and others considered to introduce a subversive influence; persons who try to leave the country; starving populations; and people from other countries who became victims of international abductions and enforced disappearances.

The report finds that the political and security apparatus of the single-party DPRK regime is directly responsible for these crimes. The state bears responsibility for carrying out systematic and widespread attacks against anyone who is considered to pose a threat to the political system and leadership. It bears responsibility for leading a systematic and widespread attack against the general population by knowingly aggravating its starvation; sacrificing the lives of large numbers of innocent citizens in order to preserve the political system and its leadership; and for abducting and forcibly disappearing a large number of persons from other countries in a systematic and widespread manner in order to gain labour and skills. Recent reporting from North Korea serves as a sobering reminder of the priorities of the current regime. While a basketball celebrity is hosted by the government, 120,000 citizens are detained in labour camps as political prisoners by their own government. This represents approximately one in every 200 citizens of the DPRK. It is almost impossible to imagine numbers on that scale.

Based on the body of testimony and information received, the commission found that the DPRK authorities have committed and are committing crimes against humanity in the political prison camps, including extermination, murder, enslavement, torture, imprisonment, rape and other grave sexual violence and persecution on political, religious and gender grounds. Guards and security agents serving in the political prison camps are taught to consider inmates to be subhuman enemies, who no longer enjoy citizens' rights. Accordingly, they are instructed to treat inmates without pity.

According to the commission's findings, hundreds of thousands of inmates have been exterminated in political prison camps and other places over a span of more than five decades. In order to eliminate perceived political enemies over the course of three generations, entire groups of people, including families with their children, have perished in the prison camps because of who they were and not what they had personally done. Some of the most disturbing interviews I think have come from one member of a family, who has explained that it was the action of that one member of the family that was responsible for the whole family being taken into custody and taken to a prison camp. Sometimes that member of the family, or the family as a whole, was not even told what they had been accused of doing. The imprisonment of entire families on the principle of guilt by association has been a defining feature of the DPRK's political prison camps. There are many instances where whole families, including children, have been sent to prison camps for the wrongs committed by a family member, and the interviews with parents in particular explaining their feelings on being responsible for their children being taken into these camps are truly harrowing.

Even where families are spared prison camps they often remain subject to harsh official reprisals, including being removed from their jobs through associative guilt. Families of prisoners are also subject to heightened persecution and surveillance, as are families with members who are missing or who have defected. There are also cases of families being forcibly relocated due to a family member having been charged as a political dissident and sentenced to a political prison camp. These relocations are often to remote or isolated areas where mass starvation is common.

Another assault on whole families is dealt to those persons with disabilities. These families are simply 'not allowed to live in Pyongyang' and are regularly relocated out of the capital. Immense hardship is also faced by families who have been separated between the north and the south before and during the Korean War. These families had little or no opportunity to see each other, exchange letters or speak over the telephone for more than six decades. At the end of 2013, the Unified Information Center for Separated Families had on its register of 'separated families', 129,264 persons, about 71½ thousand alive and close to 60,000 deceased.

I think that it is appropriate that the House acknowledge the work of the commission's chair, former High Court Justice Michael Kirby. Justice Kirby has long been a tireless advocate for human rights both here in Australia and abroad, and the United Nations could not have found a more qualified individual for this role. Justice Kirby was joined by Sonja Biserko from Serbia and Marzuki Darusman from Indonesia, and I would like to acknowledge their contributions to this important work also.

Also and most particularly, I acknowledge the bravery of witnesses, those who have been closest to the atrocities and hurt most by the crimes in question. Their brief contribution in coming forward and speaking out took phenomenal courage and strength, and without their will the investigation which made the report possible would not have occurred. For their sake and for the sake of all North Koreans, the international community must take action. Noting the report's finding that 'systemic, widespread and gross human rights violations have been and are being committed by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea', no-one can claim ignorance of the atrocities committed by the North Korean regime any longer. I call on the government to support the report's recommendations.

Craig Kelly (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the motion seconded?

Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.

Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this motion. Certainly, it is true that the world did not need this report to know there is a problem in North Korea and that there has been a wide and terrible history of abuse of human rights in that country. Whenever you look at such a regime, an autocratic regime where rule is handed down son to son, a regime that is obscured by secrecy and isolation—a hallmark of everything they do—you can be certain that oppression and abuse of human rights will endure. This report has given substance to the depth of the realities surrounding the regime. There is a darkness that surrounds North Korea. The United Nations Human Rights Council's Report of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Koreaopens the regime to greater scrutiny.

It is regrettable that the North Korean government chose not to respond or participate in any way—regrettable and certainly predictable. It is a demonstration of exactly the problem—their general approach and their inability to defend their record of horrendous and disgraceful abuses of human rights. China could have contributed by providing access to those who have escaped from North Korea and I find it sad that China did not participate. It is also a shame that the Chinese government actually rejected even the existence of the commission. The participation of China would have created further opportunities to properly and accurately assess just how terrible the situation is in North Korea. I note that on 20 February during the human rights dialogue with China, Australia raised the issue with China and urged them to allow the UN High Commissioner for Refugees access to those who have crossed the border into China.

I pay tribute to the chair, the members and the secretariat of the commission for the efforts they put into the inquiry and the resulting report. One could imagine that it would have been fascinating to hear all the witnesses but, at the same time, it would have been a harrowing and challenging experience, given accounts of abuse, torture, murder and rape.

Australia applauds the commission of inquiry's efforts to uncover the deplorable human rights record of the North Korean government. The report has shown that,    over many decades, North Korea has denied its people basic rights and freedoms, and subjected them to gross human rights violations. The Australian government has urged North Korea to implement the commission's recommendations, including on reunion of separated families, repatriation of abductees, repeal of laws allowing for arbitrary decisions by authorities and the death penalty. I note that in the commission's report, detailed factual and legal analysis has been provided and the Australian government will study these carefully ahead of its consideration at the 17 March Human Rights Council meeting. I welcome the commitment by the government to promote and advance the cause of human rights for North Koreans beyond the halls of Geneva. To that end, Australia will determine how we can use our membership of international bodies and work with others to give a greater profile to the report and to this cause.

On 20 February, Australia was among those who raised the report in the UN Security Council during the quarterly briefing on the North Korean sanctions committee, noting that it deserves the attention of council members. It should also be noted that the Australian government regularly raises its concerns on human rights in North Korea both bilaterally and multilaterally. It is also true that Australia's Seoul based ambassador raised North Korea's appalling record with their ministers in Pyongyang in November last year. Therefore, I consider that available steps have been taken by the Australian government to take action on this report.

In the remaining time available to me, I would like to examine some of the principal findings of the report. It is true to say that the excesses of the state are, I guess, tolerated, but, in fact, the report found that the human rights abuses form the basis of how that government runs the country and controls its people. That is a tragedy and there is no parallel to this across the world. Some people call it the hermit kingdom or a pariah state. That is absolutely the case.

The systems within North Korea are there to control the people completely. Look at systems such as the Songbun, a system of rigid levels of status in society. These systems amount to state determined discrimination. Everyone is classified on the basis of a social class that has been allocated based on their birth or the directions of the state. Songbun determines where people can live, their accommodation, their educational access and even who they can marry. While some aspects of that have been modified by increased economic activity and economic markets, the reality is that it is an insidious system where people are controlled based on how the state determines who they are. Not only are all those determinations under Songbun, what makes it even worse is that the distribution of food is determined based on the Songbun system of rigid class.

Yes, Pyongyang is looked after and food is sent to Pyongyang. Everyone knows of the famine of the 1990s, but there has also been a shortage of food in North Korea for the last generation.

Under the Songbun system , only people who are considered essential and people at the highest levels of society get access to food. The remainder of the population are discriminated against according to their standing in the Songbun system. They are restricted from moving around the country and their access to jobs is restricted. They are controlled and required to remain in their location even if there is a lack of food. This system oppresses the people of North Korea.

A few years ago I saw a documentary about North Korea. The daughter of one family, who was probably in late primary school, commented when there was a blackout in their apartment that it must have been the Americans interrupting their power supply—a completely ridiculous and illogical comment. This system, where the North Korean government controls information, prosecutes those who do not comply with their rules, rewards those who inform on others' political activities and indoctrinates North Koreans from birth and throughout their entire lives. Children being forced to accept only the state system, adults being forced to comply and people receiving food based upon their standing in the system—this is the terrible system of human rights abuses and the abuse of any form of government by the regime in North Korea.

It is good to see this report, Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. It highlights so much of what is wrong with North Korea. I advise everyone who has an interest in this area to have a close look at this fascinating but tragic report.

Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here are three stories from North Korea's prison camps. First, a story told by camp survivor Ms Jee Heon A:

... there was this pregnant woman ... The babies who were born were usually dead, but in this case the baby was born alive. The baby was crying as it was born, so we were curious, this was the first time we saw a baby being born. So we were watching this baby and we were so happy. But suddenly we heard the footsteps. The security agent ... told us to put the baby in the water upside down. So the mother was begging. 'I was told that I would not be able to have the baby, but I actually got lucky and got pregnant so please let me keep the baby, please forgive me.' But the agent kept beating this woman, the mother who just gave birth. And the baby, since it was just born, it was just crying. And the mother, with her shaking hands she picked up the baby and she put the baby face down in the water. The baby stopped crying and we saw this water bubble coming out of the mouth of the baby.

Second, an account told by Mr Jeong Kwang-il:

A man left his work unit to take some potatoes because he was extremely hungry. Fearing that the guards would try to consider this an attempted escape, he tried to hide. The guards chased tracker dogs after him. The dogs found and mauled the man until he was half dead. Then the guards shot the victim dead on the spot.

Third, an event recounted by Mr Shin Dong-hyuk. Mr Shin was 13 years old when he reported a conversation he overheard between his mother and brother in which they talked about escaping from the camp. As a result, his mother and brother were both executed. Along with all other inmates, Mr Shin had to watch the public execution of his mother and his brother.

I have only five minutes to speak about the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea. But even if I had five hours I could not do justice to the depravity outlined in the pages the Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea. People were sent to prison camps for watching a foreign movie, for accidentally using a mobile phone, for accidentally spilling food on a picture of Kim Jong-il or for owning a Bible.

A third of the North Korean population malnourished; at least a third of children stunted; a million or more starved to death; mass rape; beatings; public executions; forced abortions of people who return from China, a practice that is driven by racist attitudes in North Korea towards the Chinese; the collective punishment of families; trafficking of women and girls—all this while the leadership build statues of themselves and import Mercedes and fine cognac.

This report will give you nightmares. It is the closest thing I have read to pure evil, yet it is the truth. The commission of inquiry has carried out its work with impeccable thoroughness. It has conducted extensive public hearings in Seoul, Tokyo, London and Washington. Regrettably, the Chinese government did not cooperate with the inquiry. It is a pity as China has much to gain from ending the abuses on its doorstep.

The inquiry was chaired by Michael Kirby, for whom I had the privilege to work as a judge's associate. Australia has no more powerful advocate of human rights than Michael Kirby. He has done our nation proud in this work—a report underpinned by the fundamental belief that all of us are of equal worth.

The North Korean prison camps have survived twice as long as Stalin's Soviet gulags and much longer than the Nazi concentration camps. The policies of North Korea are responsible for perhaps millions of deaths. The report demands action, yet too many seem to be looking away.

I urge the government to take strong action on this report. That includes arguing in the Security Council for targeted sanctions, using our seat on the Security Council as an opportunity; arguing in the General Assembly for better human rights monitoring of North Korea; supporting referral of the report to the International Criminal Court; and working with our friends in the Chinese government to see them take action that will benefit China. These acts will demand courage by Australia but to do them we must only believe one thing: that the newborn baby I described at the start of my speech was the moral equal of any of us. If we believe that, we cannot stay silent.

Jane Prentice (Ryan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on this motion and to remind the House that Australia applauds the commission of inquiry's efforts to expose the deplorable human rights record of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea government. A United Nations panel led by retired High Court Judge Michael Kirby says that crimes against humanity have been committed in the DPRK. This report is the most authoritative account yet of human rights violations by North Korean authorities.

In UN resolution 22/13, adopted on 21 March 2013, the Human Rights Council established a commission of inquiry on human rights in the DPRK. The council mandated the commission to investigate the systemic, widespread and grave violations of human rights including in particular the following nine specific substantive areas: violations of the right to food; the full range of violations associated with prison camps; torture and inhumane treatment; discrimination, in particular the systemic denial and violation of basic human rights and fundamental freedoms; violations of the freedom of expression; violations of the right to life; violations of the freedom of movement; enforced disappearances; and arbitrary arrest and detention including in the form of abductions of nationals of other states. This is a non-exhaustive list.

Following the announcement of the commission's investigation, the Human Rights Council urged the North Korean government to cooperate fully with the investigation, to permit the commission's members unrestricted access to visit the country and to provide them with all information necessary to enable them to fulfil their mandate. Immediately after the adoption of resolution 22/13, the DPRK publically stated that it would 'totally reject and disregard' the inquiry. In a letter dated 10 May 2013, the DPRK government informed the president of the Human Rights Council that it 'totally and categorically rejects the commission of inquiry'.

Due to this unchanged lack of access to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the commission obtained firsthand testimony through hearings that were transparent, observed due process and protected victims and witnesses. More than 80 witnesses and experts testified publically and provided information of great specificity, detail and relevance, in ways that often required a significant degree of courage.

The commission found that in many instances the violations found crimes against humanity based on state policies. The commission found that there is an almost complete denial of the right to freedom of thought, conscience and religion, as well as of the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, information and association.

The state manufactures absolute obedience to the supreme leader, effectively to the exclusion of any thought independent of official ideology and state propaganda. Propaganda is further used by the Democratic People's Republic of Korea to incite nationalistic hatred towards official enemies of the state including Japan, the United States of America, the Republic of Korea, and their nationals. Citizens are denied the right to access to information from independent sources. Discrimination is rooted in the Songbun system, which classifies people on the basis of state assigned social class and birth, and also included consideration of political opinions and religion.

In North Korea, the state imposes on citizens where they must live and work, violating their freedom of choice. Moreover, the forced assignment to a state designated place of residence and employment is heavily driven by discrimination based on Songbun. This has created a socioeconomically and physically segregated society where people considered politically loyal to the leadership can live and work in favourable locations whereas families of persons who are considered politically suspect are relegated to marginalised areas.

Unfortunately, justice for the crimes is a distant prospect—not least as North Korea's ally, China, is likely to block any referral to the International Criminal Court. However, Australia will continue to urge China to allow the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees access to independently assess North Korean border crossers.

The report recommends steps towards accountability as well as building international pressure on North Korea, whose parlous human rights record has drawn less censure at the UN than its nuclear and missile programs. Australia urges North Korea to implement the commission's recommendations. Australia will do its part to ensure this report resonates beyond Geneva. The Australian government regularly raises its concerns about human rights in the DPRK both bilaterally and in multilateral settings.

It is a long road to obtaining a positive outcome. However, it is important that Australia continues to add its voice to the international community to stop these human rights violations, and I commend this motion to the House.

Debate adjourned