A/HRC/26/43
28.
The Special Rapporteur urges Member States and all parties concerned, including
the United Nations system and civil society, to seize the opportunities for engagement that
the latest developments in the universal periodic review have created. Firstly, the
international community must not take the recommendations accepted during the first
review at face value. Whether bilaterally or through regional and international platforms,
efforts must be made to ensure that the recommendations are implemented and that they
bring about a genuine improvement in the daily life and human rights of the people.
Secondly, the international community must encourage the Democratic People’s Republic
of Korea to accept and implement more recommendations from the second review in a
timely manner, in any case no later than the twenty-seventh session, in September 2014,
when the Council is scheduled to adopt the report of the Working Group, and to commit to
reporting on the progress of their implementation.
B.
Opportunities for engagement
29.
In order to facilitate the above-mentioned process, the Special Rapporteur
summarizes below the recommendations accepted by the State under review,22 which
represent an opportunity for engagement, in particular those recommendations that are
concrete and the implementation of which is verifiable.
1.
Cooperation with United Nations human rights mechanisms
30.
With regard to the scope of international obligations and the State’s cooperation
with United Nations human rights mechanisms, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea
has indicated that the recommendation that it fully comply with the principles and rights
enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the two international covenants,
the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of All
Forms of Discrimination against Women, to which it is party (recommendation 3) had been
implemented or was currently being implemented. It would also consider and envisage
acceding to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (recommendations 2
and 18) and improve its cooperation with United Nations treaty bodies by agreeing on
timelines for submitting overdue reports, in particular to the Human Rights Committee and
the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (recommendation 41).
It would also pursue cooperation with the thematic procedures of the Human Rights
Council (recommendation 54).
2.
Violence against women: rights of vulnerable groups
31.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea indicated that it had accepted several
concrete recommendations that it combat violence against women, protect the rights of
women, children, persons with disabilities and the elderly, and provide for the most
vulnerable groups (recommendations 17, 19, 20, 38, 56, 57, 58, 60, 61, 64, 66, 67, 86, 87,
96, 98 and 99); for example that it pass legislation specifically dealing with violence against
women, including domestic violence, providing for prosecution of individuals committing
acts of violence against women (recommendation 19); increase the number of women in
management posts and in decision-making processes (recommendation 20); ensure that the
rights of women, children and persons with disabilities are more effectively realized
through the implementation of a number of specific national strategies (recommendation
38); provide all children with equal opportunities to study and give them access to higher
education based on their talent and individual capability (recommendation 60); and give
22
10
See A/HRC/13/13, para. 90.
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