A/HRC/28/71 date. As recommended by the commission of inquiry, separated families should be allowed to unite, “including by allowing citizens to travel or emigrate where they choose”; and such persons should immediately be provided with “facilities for unmonitored communications by way of mail, telephone, e-mail and any other means of communication”. 24 (b) Treaty-based mechanisms 73. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is party to several international human rights instruments. Three of them are of particular relevance to the issue of international abductions, enforced disappearances and related matters: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. 74. The Government accepted a series of recommendations made in the context of the first and second cycles of the universal periodic review to submit reports to United Nations human rights treaty bodies, notably the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 25 It also accepted a number of other recommendations under the universal periodic review concerning the rights of children, women and persons with disabilities. 26 75. However, the reports of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women are all overdue.27 The Government should be reminded of its obligation to submit timely reports and encouraged to seek international assistance in this regard. 76. In addition, the Special Rapporteur calls on the treaty bodies to challenge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on the issue of abductions, enforced disappearances and related matters under their respective mandates. 77. Finally, the international community should also urge the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to sign and ratify the most relevant international human rights treaty relating to the present issue: the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. 10. Closure and accountability 78. Achieving closure and accountability for the abductions and enforced disappearances carried out by the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is the ultimate goal of this strategy. Sooner or later the Government will have to answer for its actions, in particular in the cases of abduction and enforced disappearance, which have caused unspeakable suffering to the victims and their families. 79. The commission of inquiry found that those cases constituted crimes against humanity under international criminal law. Although the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea has not included crimes against humanity in its national criminal law and is not a party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, perpetrators of such crimes can be held responsible on the basis of international customary law. Since the cases of 24 25 26 27 16 A/HRC/25/63, para. 89 (o). First cycle: A/HRC/13/13, paras. 90.3 and 90.41; second cycle: A/HRC/27/10, para. 124.64. First cycle: A/HRC/13/13, para. 90.98; second cycle: A/HRC/27/10, paras. 124.30, 124.31, 124.34, 124.36, 124.178 and 124.179. Report due to the Human Rights Committee since 2004; report due to the Committee on the Rights of the Child since 2012; report due to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women since 2006.