PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
26 February 2013
Dear Ms. Mona Zulficar, Chairperson of the Advisory Committee drafting group on the Declaration on the right of peoples to peace cc. Members of the Advisory Committee We are writing to you today to share our views on the right to peace as a civil society organization from the Republic of Korea. People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy (PSPD) was founded in 1994 and has been working on promoting people’s participation in government’s decision making process and socio-economic reform. We also obtained a special consultative status with the UN ECOSOC in 2004. In the Republic of Korea, civil society organizations and academics have discussed and studied on the right to peace. On 19 October 2012, academics, lawyers and peace activists who have studied right to peace organised a roundtable workshop “Discussion on the Rights to Peace and its Application to the Republic of Korea” and shared their academic findings and experience as peace activists on the ground on exercising their right to peace. One of the main reasons why civil societies of the Republic of Korea are particularly interested in the right to peace is that the Government frequently people’s rights to peace under the name of security, In the Republic of Korea, marginalized people have been frequently forced to sacrifice their rights under the name of the national security. People who have wished for peaceful lives maintain that people’s safety should be prioritized over the national security and has peacefully resisted against undemocratic decision-making process and violent enforcement of national policy. Under the special circumstance as a divided country, some conservative media and 1
PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
political groups have stigmatized people who have dissent opinions against the Government as “pro North Korea” or “commies”, and violated their freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of peaceful assembly and association. PSPD visited three villages that have struggled to guarantee their right to peace, which is a human right. From the informal meetings, villagers drafted their own right to peace declaration and the whole process was video recorded. Peace declaration based on the people’s voices justifies and reinforces their reasons for struggle to enjoy their right to peace. Moreover, it shows a possibility of how people can democratically control the Government’s arbitral decision-making process and violation of their rights under the name of national security. On 10 December 2012, while commemorating the 64th anniversary of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights, villagers of three villages declared “Declaration of Human Right to Peace of Three Communities Affected by False Security Conflict”. Peace declaration based on villagers’ voices includes what efforts that the Government and military should make to guarantee right to peace of its people. This shows what the Government and society should do to protect and promote villagers’ human rights violations. PSPD hopes three villages’ peace declaration contributes to the discussion on the right to peace. If you have any questions or need a clarification, please do not hesitate to contact us at peace@pspd.org or +82 (0)2 723 4250. Yours Sincerely,
Hyun-Back Chung Co-Representative People’s Solidarity for Participatory Democracy
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PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
Attachment 1. Declaration of Human Right to Peace of Three Communities Affected by False Security Conflict Declaration of Human Right to Peace of Three Communities Affected by False Security Conflict 10 December 2012 We are entitled to the following inalienable human rights in order to maintain peaceful community and life. We have the right to maintain dignity of human being and enjoy basic rights in any circumstances. We have the right to self-determination over the future of our life and community, and the right to live and pursue happiness as we choose. We have the right to inherit to next generations the ecology where human beings can live in harmony with the nature. It is crucial to our right to live in peace that the natural environment of our community is not destroyed and the diversity of the lives depending on it is conserved. We have the right to work and live according to the livelihood of our community, to maintain the cultural and natural heritage and traditions of our community, and to live free of conflict artificially inflicted upon us by the state: these are integral to our right to live in peace. We have the freedoms of expression, conscience, and thought, and the rights of association and assembly in relation to any state policies. We have to right to protect our property and economic activity when they are to be affected by state policy that has not gained our consensus. That the state must listen to our opinions, reflect differing views, conduct fair consultation with us, and try to have our consensus when implementing a policy is an obligation of the state and a right that we must enjoy to live in peace. 3
PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
We have to right not to be intimidated or threatened of violence of any kind in this process: this is an obligation of the state to guarantee human right to peace. The state’s use of force against the expressions of people in relation to a policy in order to affect their opinions is a grave threat and challenge to human right to peace. Even for security or national policy, the law-enforcement must be used within strict legal constraints and with utmost prudence when used against people exercising their freedom of expression, and any unlawful exercise of state authority must be brought to full legal justice and accountability. The state has an obligation of full reparation to the affected people for their psychological, material and property damages caused by state activity. It is a serious challenge to human right to peace and right to pursue happiness and a grave violation of state obligation to protect human rights that the differing views and actions taken by the affected people are labeled, attacked, stigmatized, and publicized in the press as ‘pro-enemy’ or ‘communist’ by mass-media agencies and individuals. It is our human right to peace to be able to live free from war exercise and war instigation by the state or any agency. The state has an obligation to reduce military tension and promote peaceful and cooperative relations with other countries including adversarial countries in order to guarantee and protect human right to peace. To transform the zone of our livelihood from the zone of militarized conflict to a zone of peace and cooperation is integral to guarantee our right to peace. We have the right to resist actions that violate our universal human rights in order to preserve them. We have the right to oppose and resist to exterior actions that cause serious threat to our peaceful life.
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PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
Attachment 2. Introduction of Three Villages 1) Gangjeong village, Jeju Island
Jeju Island is located at the southern part of the Republic of Korea. Jeju, the Island of Peace appointed by the Government, is experiencing harsh conflicts because the Ministry of Defence and the Navy of the Republic of Korea are enforcing the construction of a naval base at Gangjeong village. The naval base construction at Gangjeong is being pushed under the name of "national project" in the absence of justification while human rights violence is frequently employed. People in Gangjeong village have been fighting since May 2007 against government’s attempts to construct the naval base. As of 20 February 2013, more than 600 people have arrested for their peaceful actions against the construction of the naval base.
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PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
2) Daechoori, Pyeongtaek
Pyeongtaek locates at the southwest part of Gyeonggi province. In 2004, The US and the Republic of Korean governments agreed to relocate US army base from Yongsan, Seoul to Daechoori, Pyeongtaek. Old farmers resisted against forced relocation and eviction. Villagers’ candlelight vigil started on 1 September 2004 and had continued until 24 March 2007 for 935 days. In April 2004, villagers were forced to leave the village and relocated to temporary shelter. At that time, more than 1,000 people joined villagers’ struggle, and 13,000 police officers, 1,200 private security forces and around 2,000 soldiers were deployed to crackdown villagers. Currently, at Daechoori Peace Village (administrative address is Nowa-ri, Pyeongsung-eup), around 44 households are relocated from Daechoori. These relocated household named their village as ‘peace village’ and established Daechoori History Museum on 8 September 2012 to remember their struggle and history of the village. 6
PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
3) Gimpo Aegibong Peak border region
Aegibong Peak locates at the northwest part of Gyeonggi province and very close to the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK). In 2004, two Koreas agreed to stop propaganda activities at the Military Demarcation Line, such propaganda was stopped for almost 7 years. However, after the Cheonan ship sinking incident and Yeonpyeong Island incident in 2010, conservative protestant organizations held tree lightening ceremony to celebrate Christmas calling for “unification and urging the DPRK government to stop provocation”. The DPRK government immediately responded aggressively, and military tension was raised and villages had to evacuate to underground air-raid shelter. Lightening ceremony of Aegibong Peak Christmas tree has continued from 22 December 2012 to 2 January 2013, and as a consequence, military tension is raised every year.
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PSPD People's Solidarity for Participatory Democracy 132 Tongin-dong, Jongno-gu, Seoul, KOREA 110-043 Tel +82 2 723 5051 Fax +82 2 6919 2004 Email pspdint@pspd.org Web blog.peoplepower21.org/English
Attachment 3. Video clip of the Declaration of Human Right to Peace of Three Communities Affected by False Security Conflict Please see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Can1RS6HWBI&feature=share&list=UU0zuitmewrTjm GOQZDI_PzQ
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