A/HRC/34/3 world, OHCHR presences worked to gather information on gaps in the realization of human rights and collaborated with national actors to address them through advocacy, legislative reform and training. 6. OHCHR increased efforts to strengthen partnerships with regional organizations and to enhance complementarity between international and regional human rights mechanisms. In Africa, OHCHR supported the implementation by the African Union of its Human Rights Strategy for Africa, and worked with the League of Arab States to develop a regional human rights strategy. Moreover, OHCHR engaged regularly with the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the European Union, and engaged with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations on the prevention of violent extremism. OHCHR also filed amicus briefs or provided expert opinions before the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. 7. The High Commissioner pursued strategies to increase the effectiveness and efficiency of the Office in delivering its mandate and to expand its donor base, as well as organizational changes to facilitate better support to Member States, rights holders and other partners. II. Thematic priorities of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights A. Strengthening international human rights mechanisms 1. Treaty bodies 8. During the reporting period,1 OHCHR facilitated the review by treaty bodies of 168 State party reports; the adoption of views and decisions on more than 186 individual communications; 10 country visits by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment; and 1 confidential inquiry visit. A total of 300 individual communications were registered by treaty bodies. As at 30 November, 1,215 registered communications were pending decision by the respective treaty bodies and 350 urgent actions were under consideration by the Committee on Enforced Disappearances. Individuals alleging human rights violations have made widespread use of treaty bodies, but this must be matched by adequate resources to avoid long delays in acting on complaints. In July, OHCHR launched a one-year pilot project to webcast the sessions of all human rights treaty bodies. 9. Under the treaty body capacity-building programme created by the General Assembly in its resolution 68/268, some 50 activities to assist States were conducted upon their request. A total of 170 State officials from 77 countries were trained as trainers on treaty reporting, resulting in the submission of many overdue reports. Furthermore, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 30/25, in which the Council encouraged States to strengthen national mechanisms to follow up and implement recommendations of the international human rights mechanisms, OHCHR launched a practical guide and a study on national mechanisms for reporting to treaty bodies and follow-up.2 1 2 Benefiting from additional meeting time as a result of General Assembly resolution 68/268. National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-Up: A Practical Guide to Effective State Engagement with International Human Rights Mechanisms (HR/PUB/16/1), available from www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR_PUB_16_1_NMRF_PracticalGuide.pdf; and National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-Up: A Study of State Engagement with International Human 3

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