A/HRC/26/43
priority to vulnerable groups in the distribution of international assistance (recommendation
61).
32.
Several of the recommendations accepted by the State concern protection issues and
raising public awareness, with particular reference to victims of trafficking in persons, for
example, that it establish a government task force to create protection programmes, provide
resources for recovery and promote prevention through education and media campaigns
(recommendation 27); step up measures to address comprehensively the problem of
trafficking and violence against women, including by increasing public awareness
campaigns (recommendation 69); and strengthen measures, including through international
dialogue and cooperation, to combat human trafficking and provide appropriate assistance
to victims of trafficking (recommendation 68). The Special Rapporteur believes, however,
that such measures should be calibrated carefully to avoid restricting freedom of movement
and the right to leave the country.
3.
Structural reforms: the rights to food, health and education
33.
Recommendations concerning the rights to food, health, education, water economic
and social rights in general, humanitarian cooperation, and development also featured
prominently among those accepted (recommendations 30-36, 60, 88-94, 96, 97, 99, 100105, 109, 112-115 and 117). They included recommendations concerning the
implementation of a national plan of action of education for all with a view to improving
the quality of the system of 11 years of compulsory, free, universal education, increasing
progressively the necessary resources allocated for this purpose (recommendation 30);
securing the right to food for all citizens, in particular in order to secure the right to health
for children (recommendation 90); taking the steps necessary to ensure impartial access to
adequate food, drinking water and other basic necessities for all people within the State’s
jurisdiction, including vulnerable groups (recommendation 92); and strengthening
cooperation with the United Nations and its mechanisms on human rights and humanitarian
matters with a view to building national capacities and improving the people’s well-being
(recommendation 114). In particular, the Government also indicated that it had accepted the
recommendation that the State continue efforts to reinvigorate the national economy by,
inter alia, allowing more freedom for people to engage in economic and commercial
activities (recommendation 88).
34.
On structural reforms and the allocation of resources, the Government indicated that
it had accepted recommendations to invest sufficient resources to promote and protect the
principle of equality in the fields of work, education and health (recommendation 59); to
allocate resources equitably and to implement food security policies, including through
sustainable agricultural practices and reduced State restrictions on the cultivation and trade
of foodstuffs (recommendation 94); to increase resources allocated to the education sector
for better quality of education, and to encourage the authorities to continue their efforts in
this area (recommendation 103); and to work on overcoming the obstacles related to
economic problems and the scarcity of resources through cooperation with the international
community and the United Nations so as to ensure the promotion and protection of human
rights (recommendation 115). The Special Rapporteur is keen to see these commitments
translated into a real readjustment of the State’s songbun military first policy, which
prioritizes militarization in the allocation of limited resources.
4.
Family reunions
35.
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea also indicated that it had accepted to
guarantee separated families’ fundamental right to know the fate of their family members
across the border and to communicate and regularly meet together; do everything possible,
in cooperation with the Republic of Korea, to ensure that the maximum number of meetings
of separated families is organized, take concrete steps to continue the process of family
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