A/HRC/39/42 2. Action taken by the Joint Human Rights Office 72. The Joint Human Rights Office has continued to support the civilian and military justice systems in their endeavour to end impunity, through the provision of technical, logistical and financial support for the investigation and prosecution of violations and serious human rights abuses. Between June 2017 and May 2018, the Office supported 22 joint investigation missions and 27 mobile court sessions. In Kasaï, a technical support team deployed by the Office of the High Commissioner, in accordance with resolution 35/33 of the Human Rights Council, together with the Joint Human Rights Office, provided technical assistance to the judicial authorities in the conduct of investigations into allegations of violations and serious human rights abuses. The joint investigations were initiated by the Kananga chief military prosecutor (in Kasaï Central) on 31 May 2018. 73. The Joint Human Rights Office has assisted and provided protection to 996 victims, including 399 women and 25 children, in investigation missions conducted jointly with the judicial authorities, and to 559 victims, including 120 women and 20 children, in mobile hearings. In addition, in the course of 10 protection missions carried out before the joint investigation missions and mobile hearings, the Office identified 1,144 victims, including 574 women and 36 children, and informed them about their rights. 74. In August 2017, the Joint Human Rights Office ran a training course on international crimes for judges of the appellate courts, military courts, public prosecution services and higher military prosecutor’s offices of Kongo Central, Maniema, Kasaï Central, Kasaï Oriental, Bandundu and Kinshasa. III. Cooperation with the United Nations human rights mechanisms and national mechanisms to promote and protect human rights A. Follow-up to the recommendations of the universal periodic review and other United Nations mechanisms 75. The Interministerial Human Rights Committee, which is responsible for drafting reports and following up the implementation of recommendations of the treaty bodies and the universal periodic review, continues to have difficulty in fulfilling its mandate. 76. On 26 October 2017, the General Assembly voted in favour of the admission of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to the Human Rights Council. The Democratic Republic of the Congo has served on the Council since January 2018 and will hold its seat until the end of 2020, and must therefore uphold the highest standards in the promotion and protection of human rights, fully cooperate with the Council and submit to the universal periodic review mechanism during its mandate. The High Commissioner notes that the Government made voluntary commitments in September 2017 when submitting its candidacy. B. Update on national mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights 77. The National Human Rights Commission continues to suffer from a lack of human, financial and material resources, constraining it in the exercise of its mandate. It has, however, visited a number of detention centres and secured the release of a large number of persons in pretrial detention. With the support of the Joint Human Rights Office, the Commission has also carried out several human rights training and awareness-raising activities. It has also worked on the drafting of opinions and proposals to Parliament for the harmonization of the bill on the protection and accountability of human rights defenders. 78. Among other outputs, the Commission has published two investigation reports into the human rights violations committed in connection with the demonstrations of 31 January 2017 and 21 January 2018 in Kinshasa, a report on the inquiry into the situation in Kasaï 12 GE.18-13336