1. Child rights
60. During the reporting period the DPRK undertook and successfully implemented a series of measures for the promotion of well-being of children. According to the Strategy for Expansion of Integrated Management of Child Illness (2005–2020), integrated management of child illness was fully introduced to 11 provinces (or municipalities directly under central authority) and 118 counties. Telemedicine system connecting online the Okryu Children’s Hospital in the capital city of Pyongyang with the provincial pediatric hospitals and the pediatric departments of county hospitals were efficiently operated, and practical measures were taken to strengthen the capacity of pediatricians, with the result that children were provided with timely and quality medical service.
61. In 2015 Pyongyang Children’s Foodstuff Factory was extensively modernized and many other children’s foodstuff bases modelled on it, resulting in the increased variety and improved quality of children’ foodstuff. Legislative measures were taken to ensure that nutritional care of children is provided in a scientific way and in compliance with the hygienic standard, and nurseries and kidergartens exemplary in child nutritional care were widely introduced to the public through TV and other media, encouraging others to follow suit.
62. As a result, mortality rate of children under 1 and 5 (per 1 000 live births) decreased from 14.2 and 20.2 respectively in 2014 to 12.3 and 17.2 respectively in 2017, and the chronic and acute malnutrition rate dropped from 27.9% and 4.0% respectively in 2012 to 19.1% and 2.5% respectively in 2017.
63. During the reporting period, a notebook factory with the production capacity of 150 million a year was built and school-bag factories set up in all provinces. All students from primary schools to universities were provided with quality notebooks, school-bags and school uniforms at a nominal price.
64. Cultural and recreational bases were built in different parts of the country so that children could relax and enjoy their leisure time doing diverse cultural and physical activities.
For instance, Children’s Dream Hall was set up in the Sci-Tech Complex, a multifunctional hub of scientific and technological dissemination opened in January 2016 in order to create the environment for children to develop their creative thinking and prepare themselves into talents possessed of high creative ability. Schoolchildren’s palaces, halls, camps and other extracurricular centers, children’s parks and sports parks were built or renovated in all provinces, cities and counties for after-school activities of children.
65. One of the remarkable achievements made by the DPRK during the reporting period in its efforts to protect and promote children’s rights is that various initiatives were undertaken for the upbringing and education of children without parents and those in remote areas and disaster areas, and public concern for them increased as never before. In the period between June 2014 and April 2017 40-odd baby homes, children’s homes, primary and secondary boarding schools were newly built. Equipped with fine environment and conditions, these baby homes, children’s homes, primary and secondary boarding schools are the national models in educational and hygenic terms. Here the children are living and studying happily under the special care of the State and society. After graduation from the secondary schools, they either proceed to universities or colleges or get jobs according to their wishes. More and more of these children are now studying at universites or colleges of their choice. When the northern part of the country was affected by unprecedentedly severe flood in September 2016, the State channelled all its resources into its recovery, with top priority given to the construction of nurseries, kindergartens, schools and hospitals, and while the recovery efforts were under way, over 1 600 children in the disaster-stricken area were sent to the Songdowon International Children’s Camp, the best of its kind in the country, to enjoy camping life.
2. Women’s rights
66. Public awareness of the important role played by women in promoting social progress and family welfare was further raised, and all institutions, enterprises, organizations, families and individual citizens took it as their legal obligation to ensure women the rights as provided in the Law on the Protection and Promotion of Women’s Rights.
67. Measures were undertaken to appoint able women to the leading posts and give wide publicty to their achievements. As a result, in 2018 alone the proportion of women leaders at or above the departments of ministries and ministry-level institutions significantly increased.
Women headed up the majority of the institutions of education, public health and light industry that were newly established during the reporting period. The proportion of women deputies to the 13th Supreme People’s Assembly in 2014 and to the local power organs in 2015 accounted for 20.2% and 27% respectively. As of 2018 23.3% of women on average are served on the people’s committees at all levels.
68. The number of women doing distance learning course at the leading universities of the country is on the increase. For example, more than 10 000 students are now studying at the Distance Education College of Kim Chaek University of Technology, the highest seat of scientific and technological education in the country, of whom women make up 60%, with many of them in their 40s and 50s.
69. Efforts were also made to provide good working conditions to women and to set up at factories and enterprises fine welfare facilities for them, so that they could do their work without any inconvenience. For example, hostels for women workers furnished with excellent living conditions were newly built at Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Textile Mill and Kim Jong Suk Pyongyang Silk Mill in 2014 and 2017 respectively, while nurseries and kindergartens affiliated to factories and enterprises were refurbished in a modern fashion.
70. Strategy and Action Plan to Control Child and Maternal Malnutrition (2014–2018), Education Strategy for Reproductive Health (2014–2018) and the Action Programme for Health of Newborns (2015–2016) were implemented with success. As a result, maternal mortality (per 100 000 live births) decreased from 62.7 in 2014 to 53.2 in 2017.
71. The period of maternity leave was extended to 240 days and all provincial maternity hospitals were modernized, thus improving conditions for good health and recovery of delivered women and nutritional care of the child. Breast tumour departments newly created in all provincial maternity hospitals conducted, in close cooperation with the Breast Tumour Institutue of Pyongyang Maternity Hospital, conducted research for prevention, early identification and effective intervention of breast tumour and related diseases. They also carried out regular checkup among women for early identification of such diseases. In 2015 family counselling sections were created at provincial, city and county hospitals so as to provide reproductive health-related counseling services in a comfortable environment.
3. The rights of persons with disabilities
72. The DPRK Strategy for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities (2018–2020) is under implementation, and strategies in such sectors as education, labour, public health and construction for the implementation of the 5-Year Strategy for National Economic Development (2016–2020) are also inclusive of stage-by-stage goals for the promotion of the rights of persons with disabilities. In addition to these, short- and long-term action plans developed by the Korean Federation for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities (KFPD) were successfully implemented under the coordination of the National Committee for the Protection of Persons with Disabilities and in close cooperation with the State institutions concerned.
73. Capacities of organizations affiliated to KFPD such as the Deaf Association, the Blind Association, Association of Women with Disabilities, Sports Association of Persons with Disabilities, Art Association of Persons with Disabilities, Economic and Cultural Center of the Deaf and Blind and Vocational Training Centre of Persons with Disabilities were reinforced, creating conditions for persons with disabilities to give full play to their talents and fulfil their wishes. The proportion of persons with disabilities working for disability-related institutions and organizations continued to increase, with the result that as of 2018
they accounted for 20%, 70%, 50%, 14.3% and 84% respectively of the staff of the central committee of the KFPD, Economic and Cultural Center of the Deaf and Blind, Art Association, Sign Language Interpreters’ Association and Furniture Factory of the Deaf, and 100% respectively of the members of the Associations of the Deaf and Blind and the Deaf Football Team.
74. National table tennis tournaments of persons with and without disabilities were organized two times every year, stimulating persons with disabilities to take part in sports and raising public awareness of their potentials. Persons with disabilities of the DPRK successfully competed in paralympic and para games several times during the reporting period, while members of the Art Association performed in some of European countries in 2015 and 2017.
75. A series of initiatives were taken to eliminate physical barriers to participation by persons with disabilities in public activities and provide them with safer and more favourable environment. For instance, the Standards for the Designing of Building Spaces for Persons with Disabilities were revised, and construction of barrier-free infrastructure satisfying international standards is reflected in the plans for the remodeling of the Samjiyon County and construction of the Wonsan Kalmar Coastal Tourist Area, which are well under way. An e-reading room and homepage specially designed for persons with disabilities was set up at the Sci-Tech Complex so that they could access necessary information with ease.
76. Starting in 2015 blind schools and deaf schools revised their curricula to bring them into line with the 12-year compulsory education curricula, which places main emphasis on general education, while combining it properly with vocational training. Symposium and seminar were organized once a year for teachers of blind schools and deaf schools to share achievements and experience gained in their educational work, which proved greatly conducive to improving the quality of education at these schools. A lot of persons with disabilities receive education in the field of their interest through the distance education system established at central or local universities, with their number increasing day by day.
Opening and graduation ceremonies of the Rehabilitation Center for Children with Disabilities and the Vocational Training Center of Persons with Disabilities were widely covered by media, raising public interest in education of persons with disabilities.
4. The rights of the elderly
77. Positive steps were taken during the reporting period for the implementing of the Law on the Care of the Elderly including the establishment of a well-organized system of State guidance and supply of materials for the care of the elderly. Non-standing committees for the care of the elderly were organized at the Cabinet, provinces, cities and counties, which are serviced by the central committee of the Federation for the Care of the Elderly, its provincial committees and focal points in the city (or district) people’s committees.
78. The Federation for the Care of the Elderly conducted, in accordance with the Strategic Plan for the Care of the Elderly (2016–2018), research and survey, awareness-raising and advocacy activities, training and education, international cooperation and building up of human, material and financial reserves. It also organized associations of art, sport and production of the elderly so that they could spend their remaining years living a worthwhile life.
79. Geriatrics and gerontology, which were formerly an optional subject of medical students or a part of other courses, was developed as a standalone subject in 2016 in medical universities, so that students may acquire extensive knowledge of older persons’ diseases. A number of books about the health of the elderly such as Questions and Answers on Older Persons’ Diseases and Tips on Health Care of Older Persons were published,
80. A new old home was built in Pyongyang in 2015 and all provincial old homes were modeled on it, while recuperation homes for persons with disabilities were set up in all provinces in 2016–2018, so that the elderly and persons with disabilities who have no means of support could live free from worries under the care of the State.
81. International Day of the Elderly was celebrated every year with much enthusiasm:
sports and amusement games of the elderly were organized, art performance and special
service for them arranged at theatres and catering establishments and preferential service provided to them at bases for cultural and leisure activities. It has become common practice for leading officials of the people’s power organs to visit the old homes in their locality on this day to offer old people their best wishes and take necessary measures for their living. On the occasion of this day the media gave wide coverage of the individuals who are exemplary in respecting and providing assistance to the elderly, as well as the elderly who voluntarily looked for tasks for the good of society and worked with sincere devotion and patriotic desire.