Brussels, 17/04/2014 (Agence Europe) - On Monday 17 April, the European Parliament adopted three joint resolutions supporting the recommendations of the UN Commission of Inquiry into human rights violations in North Korea; expressing deep concern at the increase in sectarian violence and religious intolerance in Pakistan; and condemning the recent attacks against religious and ethnic communities and the suffering of women and children in Syria.
North Korea. MEPs call on North Korea to put an immediate and permanent end to the public or secret executions and to abolish the death penalty. They ask for the extra-judicial executions, forced disappearances and collective punishment to end and for detention camps to be closed, political prisoners released and for people to be allowed to travel freely inside and outside the country. The MEPs urge the European External Action Service and member states to help the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish special structures to ensure accountability for the crimes committed, through the continued collection of evidence and documentation.
Persecution in Pakistan. The Parliament is gravely concerned “that the controversial blasphemy laws are open to misuse which can affect people of all faiths in Pakistan” and the way these laws are increasingly being used against Christians and other religious minorities in Pakistan, as well as the fact that murdered minister Shahbaz Bhatti and governor Salman Taseer were publicly repudiated. The Parliament urges the Pakistani government to review the controversial blasphemy laws and their application. MEPs “also call for hate material to be removed from the curricula and for teaching on community and religious tolerance to be included in the basic syllabus”. The government is urged to speed up reform of the madrassas (religious schools) by introducing a basic curriculum in line with international standards. The Parliament urges the European Commission to respond to previous requests for school text books financed by the EU that contain hate material to be revised.
Syria. The Parliament strongly condemns recent attacks on ethnic and religious minorities in Syria, such as Christians, Armenians and Kurds. The Parliament also condemns the murder of Father Frans Van der Lugt and says: “All vulnerable communities in Syria should be protected (…) by allowing humanitarian access and lifting all sieges of populated areas, including the Old City of Holms. They [MEPS] call for the establishment of safe havens and for the creation of humanitarian corridors. They express their support for all efforts at local level to avoid and combat sectarian violence in rebel-held areas and in Kurdish-majority areas and call for special attention to be given to the vulnerable situation of Palestine refugees in Syria”, for example the brutal conditions at the Yarmouk refugee camp. (LC)