A/HRC/41/25 Nations system to advance human rights should help identify the root causes of and responses to conflict and make better use of the existing human rights mechanisms and their recommendations (see A/72/707, para. 21). 6. The universal periodic review is a mechanism with a 4.5-year cycle based on cooperation and constructive dialogue and involving a peer review of the human rights record of each Member State. It ensures equal treatment for every country and allows for information from the United Nations system, regional mechanisms, national human rights institutions and civil society to be taken into account when assessing the human rights record of the State under review. The aim is to assist countries to take concrete steps to advance the promotion and protection of human rights at country level. The universal periodic review results in recommendations, with the State under review specifying in the Human Rights Council which recommendations it supports. The current, third cycle, which started on 1 May 2017, is focused on an implementation agenda, with Member States encouraged to follow up at least on the recommendations they supported before the next review. 7. At its thirty-seventh session, the Human Rights Council held its annual high-level panel discussion on human rights mainstreaming, focusing on challenges and opportunities for the promotion and protection of human rights in the light of the universal periodic review. The panel recognized the importance of the recommendations from the universal periodic review as a key entry point for cooperation with, and action by, Member States, the United Nations system and the wider international community, including donors. It noted that the substantive issues raised in the review mirrored recommendations from other human rights mechanisms, such as treaty bodies and special procedures, forming a crosssection of critical human rights issues at the country level that, if addressed, would strengthen national human rights protection systems, build more resilient societies and sustain development and peace. 8. The high-level panel emphasized the importance of strong coordination of implementation efforts by Member States and noted the critical role played in that regard by national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up. It further emphasized the role of national human rights institutions and civil society actors. It also identified the implementation of the recommendations of human rights mechanisms as a unique opportunity for Member States to align human rights and development efforts and to move the Sustainable Development Goals forward with human rights at their core. 9. The high-level panel noted that the United Nations system at the country level was well placed to support implementation efforts by Member States through the use of the recommendations of human rights mechanisms, including universal periodic review recommendations supported by Member States, in United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks and in the planning and programming of individual agencies, funds and programmes, fully in line with their specific mandate. The panel also called for increased human rights-related efforts in the context of South-South cooperation and in the provision of ODA. 10. As the third cycle of the universal periodic review is centred on an implementation agenda, Member States have been called upon to redouble their efforts to integrate human rights into the targets and indicators of the Sustainable Development Goals, thus ensuring that reporting on the Goals refers also to human rights efforts. The voluntary practice of midterm reporting under the universal periodic review and the voluntary national reports at the high-level political forum on sustainable development are additional opportunities for Member States to take stock of progress towards the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals and human rights. 11. Those themes were highlighted at the intersessional meeting for dialogue and cooperation on human rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, held in Geneva on 16 January 2019, which concluded that implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals should increasingly be integrated into the universal periodic review, and the human rights treaty bodies and special procedures should continue to be sensitive to the Sustainable Development Goals, while Member States and other stakeholders should make better use of human rights mechanisms in the context of implementation of the 3