A/HRC/4/15 page 4 I. INTRODUCTION 1. The Special Rapporteur thanks warmly all Governments, non-governmental organizations and international organizations that assisted him in carrying out his functions during the year. The mandate of the Special Rapporteur was established in 2004 by the Commission on Human Rights. It was extended by the Human Rights Council in 2006 for one year, and the Special Rapporteur is tasked with preparing and submitting reports to both the General Assembly and the Council. The mandate of his work encompasses a variety of questions relating to civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, ranging from humanitarian aid (especially food aid) to asylum, abductions of foreigners and related transgressions. In late 2006, he also carried out a field visit to Japan, the Republic of Korea and Mongolia to assess the impact of the human rights situation in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea on these countries. The current report covers the situation until the beginning of 2007. It is submitted in accordance with Council decision 1/102. 2. On the constructive side, it will first be recalled that the country is a party to four human rights treaties - the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of the Child. It has also submitted reports under these treaties and has appeared before the respective monitoring bodies. Notably, on one occasion, it invited the Committee on the Rights of the Child to visit the country. Second, the authorities have allowed the presence of a number of United Nations agencies in the country and continue to work with them on various aspects of human development. For instance, it cooperates with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on child-related programming. A recent UNICEF report entitled Analysis of the Situation of Children and Women in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea notes that “[t]he particular strength of the [country’s] policy framework lies in its comprehensiveness, integration and consistency in addressing the interests of children and women. It has been aligned with the collective production system. The government has proactively broadened and updated its laws and policies on an ongoing basis also making an effort to harmonize with international innovations and standards”.1 Third, partly as a follow-up to the various recommendations of the international monitoring bodies, the country has undertaken some key law reforms such as revision of the Criminal and Criminal Procedure Codes in 2004 and 2005. The authorities also published a legal compendium for public use in 2004. Yet, there remain major challenges concerning the implementation of human rights, as will be seen below. 3. The approach of the Special Rapporteur continues to be to invite the country to respond to the mandate as a window of opportunity to engage with the United Nations. It is thus regrettable that to date, the authorities of the country have declined to cooperate with the Special Rapporteur. 1 Analysis of the Situation of Children and Women in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, UNICEF, Pyongyang, 2006, p. 22.