Situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea A/RES/74/166 Noting with regret that independent civil society organizations cannot operate in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and that, as a result, no civil society organization based in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was able to submit a stakeholder report in the context of the universal periodic review process, Noting the collaboration established between the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in providing human rights education to a small number of government officials in Geneva in May 2019, and urging that such technical cooperation be broadened, Stressing the importance of extending the cooperation of the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights field-based structure in the region, Noting the collaboration established between the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United Nations Children’s Fund and the World Health Organization in order to improve the health situati on in the country, Noting also the collaboration established between the Government of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and the United Nations Children’s Fund to improve the nutritional status of children and the quality of children ’s education, Noting further the activities undertaken by the United Nations Development Programme, on a modest scale, in the Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea, and encouraging the engagement of the Government of the Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea with the international community to ensure that the programmes benefit the persons in need of assistance, Noting the cooperation between the Government of the Democratic People ’s Republic of Korea and the World Food Programme, the United Nations Children ’s Fund and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on a number of assessments, underscoring the importance of those assessments in analysing changes in the national, household and individual situation with regard to food security, nutrition, health, water and sanitation, and thereby in supporting donor confidence in the targeting of aid programmes and monitoring, and noting with appreciation the work of international aid operators, Stressing the importance of international humanitarian aid organizations to carry out independent needs assessments and implement their humanitarian programmes consistent with international standards and humanitarian principles, including in areas with no operational presence, and expressing concern about the latest action taken by the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea to reduce the number of United Nations agencies’ staff in the country, Taking note of the United Nations humanitarian report entitled “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea 2019: needs and priorities” and the joint rapid food security assessments conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Food Programme and their calls to address the critical humanitarian needs in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Noting with concern the findings of the United Nations that 10.9 million people in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea are estimated to be undernourished, one third of children 6 to 23 months of age do not receive a minimum acceptable diet, 1 in 5 children suffer from stunting (chronic malnutrition), around 9 million people are estimated to have limited access to quality health services, and 39 per cent, or an estimated 9.75 million, of people do not have access to a safely managed drinking water source, including 56 per cent of people living in rural areas, condemning the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea for diverting its resources into pursuing 19-22298 3/11