A/HRC/41/25 34. OHCHR cooperates closely with the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and is developing further its strategic partnership with national human rights institutions, not least through the tripartite letter of intent signed in February 2017 by UNDP, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and OHCHR. In addition, OHCHR provides technical assistance on the establishment and strengthening of national human rights institutions, including through the provision of legal advice on legislative frameworks for their establishment, the implementation of capacity-building activities and the sharing of best practices. It also encourages their engagement with international human rights mechanisms and supports their efforts to mainstream human rights in national development policies. For example, in 2018 OHCHR organized, jointly with the Uganda Human Rights Commission, two workshops on harnessing human rights indicators and on a human rights-based approach to data collection in the measurement and implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals in Uganda (A/HRC/39/20, para. 17). During the annual meeting of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions in March 2018, OHCHR organized a side event to share best practices on the role of national human rights institutions during elections and how better to cooperate with electoral observation organizations. E. Enhancing the role of parliaments 35. As one branch of government, parliaments play a critical role in contributing to the preparation of the national reports of Member States, participating in the various international human rights mechanisms, especially the universal periodic review, ensuring follow-up to recommendations that require legislative reform or other action by parliaments, and in scrutiny of legislation drafted to give effect to such recommendations. Parliaments therefore contribute to ensuring that Member States comply with their international human rights obligations and in establishing and ensuring the proper functioning of national human rights protection systems. By laying the foundation for and strengthening the rule of law; providing oversight regarding the functioning of Governments and national institutions, and ensuring that rights-based approaches are taken into account in national budgets, parliaments are essential to facilitating the implementation by Member States of recommendations made by the international human rights mechanisms and contributing to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. 36. A strengthened role for parliaments on human rights can greatly contribute to increasing the implementation of recommendations made by international human rights mechanisms, better linking of human rights to national development efforts and enhancing the effectiveness of national human rights institutions and civil society organizations. In a report on the contribution of parliaments to the work of the Human Rights Council and its universal periodic review, prepared in close cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), OHCHR noted that more than 50 per cent of recommendations emanating from the universal periodic review required parliamentary action for them to be implemented (A/HRC/38/25, para. 11). 37. For that reason, and so as to enhance and streamline such efforts, OHCHR recommended that parliaments consider the setting up of specialized human rights committees and strengthen their engagement with the international human rights mechanisms, especially the universal periodic review (ibid., para. 63). The draft principles on parliaments and human rights, annexed to the report provide relevant guidance for parliaments that wish to establish such human rights committees. 38. The report was also welcomed during the thirty-ninth session of the Human Rights Council in a joint statement delivered by Ecuador on behalf of the core group of countries on the contribution of parliaments to the work of the Human Rights Council and the universal periodic review (Ecuador, Italy, Maldives, Morocco, the Philippines, Romania and Spain). The efforts by OHCHR and IPU to promote a constructive discussion on the issue were also commended and States were encouraged to look into the recommendations of the report to keep building on this important initiative in the near future. 8