A/HRC/34/3 10. On 18 July, in the first biennial report to the General Assembly on the status of the human rights treaty body system pursuant to resolution 68/268 (A/71/118), the SecretaryGeneral noted that positive steps had been taken towards implementing the resolution but that greater efforts were needed to harmonize working methods. The review of the treaty body system mandated by the General Assembly for 2020 will be an important opportunity to address the profound challenges the system continues to face. 11. Together with the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, OHCHR led a year-long commemoration of the fiftieth anniversary of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Events were also held to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. 2. Human Rights Council 12. Between September 2015 and November 2016, the Human Rights Council faced an unprecedented workload, holding 199 meetings, including 28 panel discussions and 52 interactive dialogues with special procedure mandate holders, and adopting 148 resolutions and decisions. OHCHR continued to support the Independent Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and the Commission of Inquiry on human rights in Eritrea. The Council also invited the High Commissioner to report on the human rights situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo as and when appropriate and to dispatch a group of independent experts to Burundi to investigate violations and abuses of human rights committed since April 2015. Following the final report of the expert mission (A/HRC/33/37), the Council, in resolution 33/24, decided to establish a commission of inquiry on the human rights situation in Burundi. 13. Further to mandates established by the Council, OHCHR completed inquiries and submitted reports on violations and abuses of human rights against Rohingya Muslims and other minorities in Myanmar; in countries affected by Boko Haram; and in Iraq and Libya. Following the report of the OHCHR assessment team on South Sudan and pursuant to Council resolution 31/20, a three-member Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan was appointed to monitor, assess and report to the Council at its thirty-fourth session. In its resolution 31/18, the Council requested the High Commissioner to designate two experts to support the work of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and to report at the thirty-fourth session. 14. In December 2015 and November 2016, the High Commissioner briefed Member States on his missions, the challenges presented by global migration and the international criminal justice system. In June, the Council commemorated its tenth anniversary by holding a high-level panel discussion with former Council Presidents. OHCHR supported the eighteenth session of the Working Group on the Right to Development and sessions of the different forums established by the Council, including the first session of the United Nations Forum on Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law. 15. The Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in the work of the Human Rights Council enabled the Council to hold its first universal session in June by facilitating the participation of 18 delegates. The Trust Fund also launched an e-learning tool on the Council and its mechanisms. Rights Mechanisms (HR/PUB/16/1/Add.1), available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR_PUB_16_1_NMRF_Study.pdf. 4

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