A/HRC/25/CRP.1 261. Virtually all social activities undertaken by citizens of all ages are controlled by the Workers’ Party of Korea. Through the associations which are run and overseen by the Party, and to which DPRK nationals are obliged to be members, the state is able to monitor its citizens as well as to dictate their daily activities. State surveillance permeates the private life of all citizens to ensure that no expression critical of the political system or of its leadership goes undetected. DPRK nationals are punished for any “anti-state” activities or expressions of dissent. They are rewarded for reporting on fellow citizens suspected of committing such “crimes”. 262. Citizens are denied the right to access information from independent sources as state-controlled media is the only permitted source of information in the DPRK. Access to television and radio broadcasts, as well as the Internet, is severely restricted, and all media content is heavily censored and must adhere to directives issued by the Workers’ Party of Korea. Telephone calls are monitored and mostly confined to domestic connections for its citizens, who are punished for watching and listening to foreign broadcasts, including foreign films and soap operas. 263. Strengthening market forces and advancements in information technology have allowed greater access to information from outside the country as information and media from the ROK and China increasingly enter the country. The state’s information monopoly is therefore being challenged by the increasing flow of outside information into the country and the ensuing curiosity of the people for “truths” other than state propaganda. Authorities seek to preserve the status quo by carrying out regular crackdowns and enforcing harsher punishments, to halt the inflow of information and ideas. 264. The spread of Christianity is considered by the DPRK a particularly serious threat since it ideologically challenges the official personality cult and provides a platform for social and political organization and interaction outside the state realm. Apart from the few organized state-controlled churches, Christians are prohibited from practising their religion. Christians caught practising their religion are subject to severe punishment in violation of the right to freedom of religion and the prohibition of religious discrimination. B. Discrimination on the basis of State-assigned social class (songbun), gender and disability 265. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Article 2 states: Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. 266. Article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) similarly note the non-discrimination principle in ensuring the rights elaborated in these treaties that the DPRK has ratified. Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) further explicitly calls for states to take “all appropriate measures to ensure that the child is protected against all forms of discrimination or punishment on the basis of the status, activities, expressed opinions, or beliefs of the child's parents, legal guardians, or family members”. 74