Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate congratulates the House of Representatives in the United States of America (US) for passing, on 13 December 2011, the following resolution (376) relating to the repatriation of South Korean prisoners of war still alive in North Korea:

  (a)   recognizes that there are South Korean prisoners of war (POWs) and civilian abductees from the Korean War who are still alive in North Korea and want to be repatriated;

  (b)   takes note of the U.S. – North Korean agreement of October 20, 2011, on resuming operations to search for and recover remains of American POW/MIAs and calls upon the United States Government to continue to explore the possibility that there could be American POW/MIAs still alive inside North Korea;

  (c)   recommends that the United States and South Korean Governments jointly investigate reports of sightings of American POW/MIAs;

  (d)   encourages North Korea to repatriate any American and South Korean POWs to their home countries to reunite with their families under the International Humanitarian Law set forth in the Geneva Convention relative to the treatment of Prisoners of War;

  (e)   calls upon North Korea to admit to the abduction of more than 100,000 South Korean civilians and reveal the status of the abductees; and

  (f)   calls upon North Korea to agree to the family reunions and immediate repatriation of the abductees under the International Humanitarian Law set forth in the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War.

Question agreed to.