The third cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of the DPRK was held in Geneva on May 9, 2019. In preparation of the UPR, NKHR sent a joint NGO submission to the UN with Conectas Human Rights. It contains information on the situation of women’s rights in the DPRK and assesses the implementation of recommendations accepted by the North Korean government during the previous UPR sessions. The submission also includes recommendations for the third cycle of the UPR regarding activities of the Ministry of State Security (MSS/secret police) and MSS-operated pre-trial detention centers, lack of women’s rights awareness and civil society organizations, and economic violence against women. 

NKHR’s officers also joined the briefings for Embassies in Seoul and gave brief presentations to diplomatic representatives on the implementation of recommendations on women’s human rights issues by North Korea in the last two cycles of UPR and the reality on the ground as revealed through NKHR’s newest report on discrimination against women in North Korea issued in October 2018. Joanna Hosaniak, Deputy Director General of NKHR also participated in the UPR pre-session held in Geneva in April 2019 and conducted advocacy with the states.