Carol Nolan (Laois-Offaly, Independent)
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448. To ask the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade further to Parliamentary Question No. 457 of 9 September 2021, if Ireland is willing to table a UN Security Council resolution referring the situation in North Korea to the International Criminal Court; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [53082/21]

Simon Coveney (Cork South Central, Fine Gael)
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Ireland is a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and is a firm supporter of the role and work of the ICC in ending impunity for the most heinous crimes. One of the mechanisms provided by the Rome Statute to trigger the Court’s jurisdiction over these crimes is that the United Nations Security Council can refer a situation to the Court. Referrals by the United Nations Security Council are made pursuant to Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, and must receive nine affirmative votes at the Council. Any one of the five permanent Council Members can veto a proposed referral.

The human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) remains an issue of deep concern to Ireland and is one that we have consistently raised in the UN and other international fora.

Ireland is a traditional co-sponsor of a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly Third Committee which, inter alia, encourages “the Security Council to continue its consideration of the relevant conclusions and recommendations of the commission of inquiry and take appropriate action to ensure accountability, including through consideration of referral of the situation in the DPRK to the ICC and consideration of further sanctions in order to target effectively those who appear to be most responsible for human rights violations that the commission has said may constitute crimes against humanity”. At the time of writing,the resolution for the 76^thsession of the Third Committee remains under negotiation.

Ireland is engaged on the issue of the DPRK at the Security Council. As highlighted in the response to your Question of 9 September, in February Ireland signed a joint letter to the President of the Council, requesting that ‘The situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ remain on the Council’s agenda. We repeated this request in August. In October, we called for the international community to hold the DRPK to its obligations under Security Council Resolutions, including through targeted sanctions.

For the remainder of our term, we will continue to consider the most effective ways of engaging on the human rights situation in the DPRK, including the issues of accountability and compliance with international law.