A/HRC/43/3 Chapter I I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 48/141. It contains an overview of the work of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Geneva and New York and in the field between 1 July and 31 December 2019 in support of international human rights mechanisms and in the areas of development, peace and security, non-discrimination, accountability and participation. The report should be read in conjunction with the report of the High Commissioner on the work of OHCHR for the period between 1 January and 30 June 2019 (see A/74/36). 2. As of December 2019, there were 80 United Nations human rights field presences worldwide. In the last quarter of 2019, the High Commissioner signed agreements with the Governments of the Sudan and the Niger to establish country offices in both countries, and a letter of understanding with the Government of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela providing a framework for cooperation and for the presence of two human rights officers in the country. 3. Between July and December 2019, the High Commissioner visited Australia, Costa Rica, France, Ireland, Kenya, Malaysia, Senegal, Slovenia, Spain, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America. The Deputy High Commissioner visited Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States, while the Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights travelled to Costa Rica and Denmark. 4. During the reporting period, OHCHR submitted 81 reports to the General Assembly at its seventy-fourth session and 92 to the Human Rights Council at its forty-second session.1 Chapter II II. Activities of the Office of the High Commissioner A. International human rights mechanisms 1. Treaty bodies 5. OHCHR continued to facilitate the work of the human rights treaty bodies. It supported the reviews of 75 State party reports, and the adoption of views and decisions on 132 individual communications, 4 decisions on registered inter-State communications and 111 decisions related to urgent actions of the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. As of 1 November, OHCHR had facilitated the registration of 154 new individual complaints and 221 urgent actions, out of a total of 822 newly registered cases during 2019. OHCHR also facilitated visits to two States parties by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the elaboration of five general comments and the initiation of five confidential inquiries. 6. The insufficiency of human and technical resources resulted in increased delays in that work. In his second biennial report on the status of the human rights treaty body system (A/73/309), the Secretary-General confirmed the urgent need for additional resources to ensure its effective functioning. The 2020 review will be a crucial opportunity to address the situation. 7. OHCHR field presences also provided technical support to numerous countries, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, Colombia, Lesotho, Mexico, Mozambique, Nicaragua, Papua New Guinea, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia and Zambia, on their engagement 1 2 In 2019, OHCHR submitted 299 reports to the Human Rights Council at its three sessions.