A/HRC/38/25 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 35/29, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to prepare a study, in close cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU) and in consultation with States, United Nations agencies and other relevant stakeholders, on how to promote and enhance synergies between parliaments and the work of the Human Rights Council and its universal periodic review, and to present it to the Council at its thirty-eighth session. 2. In accordance with the resolution, OHCHR sent a note verbale dated 16 November 2017, inviting Member States to forward a questionnaire to their respective parliaments on parliamentary human rights-related structures and parliamentary engagement with United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the Human Rights Council and the universal periodic review. The questionnaire (see annex II) was also sent by the IPU Secretary General to the 178 Member Parliaments of IPU worldwide, in January 2018. 3. The present report, prepared in close cooperation with IPU, contains an analysis of responses to the questionnaire, with the aim of presenting existing good practices relating to the United Nations human rights mechanisms, including the universal periodic review. The draft principles on parliaments and human rights contained in annex I below and developed based on available research and OHCHR practice provide Member States with practical elements that, once further considered, including in consultation with members of parliamentary human rights committees, and adopted by an intergovernmental body, could serve as a guide and further strengthen the role of parliaments in the effective promotion and protection of human rights. II. Third universal periodic review cycle and the emphasis on national implementation 4. The establishment of the Human Rights Council in 2006 and its universal periodic review mechanism have provided States Members of the United Nations with a unique platform to share their best practices, and to cooperate with each other to advance human rights, while ensuring non-selectivity, impartiality and objectivity. All 193 Member States have been reviewed twice as a part of the universal periodic review process and, on 1 May 2017, the third four-and-a-half-year review cycle began. The continued universal and highlevel participation in the review reflects Member States’ political willingness and commitment to pursue that human rights peer-to-peer dialogue on an equal footing and in a more cooperative context, with a strong focus on implementation and follow-up to accepted recommendations. 5. Universal periodic review recommendations have grown in number, and have become more focused, with about 200 recommendations typically being made to a country in the third cycle following interventions by, on average, 90 States. The substantive human rights issues contained in those recommendations often reflect the contents of recommendations from treaty bodies and special procedure mandate holders. Thus, universal periodic review recommendations represent a cross section of human rights gaps in implementation at the country level, both in law and in practice. They point to areas that need strengthening in order to bolster national human rights institutions and national capacities, foster resilience and create an environment conducive to addressing possible root causes of human rights violations. The systematic implementation of key recommendations may, therefore, also have a preventive effect, contributing to staving off triggers of violent conflict and humanitarian emergencies, as well as to lessening displacement and migration flows. It also ensures the success and sustainability of efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by anchoring them in the solid foundations of respect for human rights resulting from legal obligations and political commitments. 6. As stated by the Secretary-General, the United Nations will work to strengthen the relevance, precision and impact of the Human Rights Council’s recommendations, 2