WRITTEN QUESTION E-2714/02 by Baroness Sarah Ludford (ELDR) to the Council. The forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees by the People's Republic of China.
Date: 2002-09-26
Institutions: European Parliament, Provisional data
Subjects: China, EU relations, North Korea, aid to refugees, human rights, illegal migration, imprisonment, return migration

C 137 E/114

Official Journal of the European Union

EN

12.6.2003

(2003/C 137 E/128)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2714/02

by Baroness Sarah Ludford (ELDR) to the Council

(26 September 2002)

Subject: The forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees by the People’s Republic of China

In recent years, tens of thousands of North Koreans have fled famine and persecution in the Democratic
People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), clandestinely crossing the border into the north-eastern provinces of
China.

Since 1999, the Chinese Government has been forcibly repatriating thousands of these North Korean
refugees and asylum-seekers, whom it regards as economic migrants and thereby ‘illegal
immigrants’.
Over the last year there has been a notable crackdown on these refugees, and an intensification of forcible
repatriations.

This is despite the fact that having fled from a country with such a deplorable human rights record as the
DPRK, many of the refugees will undoubtedly have genuine asylum claims. Once extradited by the PRC,
the North Koreans meet an uncertain fate back in their home country, which might include imprisonment,
torture and in some cases summary execution or death in detention from starvation and disease (source:
Amnesty International).

In forcibly repatriating the refugees, the Chinese Government is denying them access to any refugee
determination procedure. This violates the fundamental principle of non-refoulement embodied in the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, to which China is a state party.

What action is the Council taking to ensure that the rights of North Korean refugees and asylum-seekers
are respected, and that they have access to a fair and independent asylum procedure, as embodied in the
1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees? Will the Council agree to raise the issue of the unjust
forcible repatriation of North Korean refugees at the next round of the biannual EU-China Human Rights
Dialogue?

Reply

(6 February 2003)

The Council would like to refer the Honourable MEP to its reply to the Parliamentary Question

1.
No 2242/02, which remains valid.

The Council has raised the issue again with the Chinese authorities at the next round of the

2.
EU-China human rights dialogue in Beijing in November 2002.

(2003/C 137 E/129)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2728/02

by Konstantinos Hatzidakis (PPE-DE) to the Commission

Subject: Non-payment of aid to Greek organic farmers

(30 September 2002)

Organic farmers in the prefecture of Pireas whose applications were accepted from 1999 under the
relevant EU-funded programme have not received payment in respect of their 2000 and 2001 crops. It
appears that similar problems have arisen in other prefectures in Greece.

Can the Commission give the reasons for non-payment of aid and say what steps it intends to take to
ensure that the farmers in question receive the aid to which they are entitled?