A/HRC/41/25 responsive and accountable United Nations support for nationally led development and human rights action. B. Role of regional organizations 48. International cooperation at the regional level affords additional support for the promotion and protection of human rights. Reports and findings of regional human rights bodies need to be taken into account when Member States are undergoing examination by international human rights mechanisms. References to the jurisprudence and other documentation of regional human rights mechanisms can support their findings. 49. The United Nations system could also benefit from greater engagement with regional mechanisms in terms of adopting good practices that have emerged at the regional level. In its resolutions 6/20, 12/15, 18/14, 24/19, 30/3 and 34/17 the Human Rights Council recognized the important role played by regional, subregional and interregional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and requested OHCHR to put forward concrete proposals on ways of strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms. 50. A memorandum of understanding between the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and OHCHR was signed on 9 February 2019. It provides a framework for collaboration between the two entities in areas of common interest, such as international and regional human rights norms and standards, international and regional human rights jurisprudence, the administration of justice and the practices of international and regional courts and tribunals. It covers exchanges of views and practices, fostering cooperation with United Nations human rights mechanisms and training for judges and judicial officers. 51. The 2014 joint declaration between OHCHR and the general secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS) through the Executive Secretariat of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights outlines a general framework for enhancing cooperation in the promotion and protection of human rights. It envisages the holding of joint annual meetings and ad hoc consultations, and enabling the participation of representatives of the counterpart organization in meetings of their respective bodies. The agreement facilitates the exchange of information on the work of the international and regional human rights mechanisms and promotes measures to ensure that the human rights commitments and recommendations of the international mechanisms and those of the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights are taken into account in each other’s work, reports and action plans. It further seeks to establish a cooperation mechanism on the implementation of recommendations issued by the human rights treaty bodies, the special procedures and under the universal periodic review, as well as cooperation in assisting Governments of OAS member States with implementation. The agreement also aims to facilitate cooperation for joint advocacy action and on priority thematic issues. 52. The 2013 joint declaration on the reinforcement of cooperation between the Council of Europe and OHCHR sets out an agreement on pursuing appropriate measures to ensure that the respective legal instruments, recommendations and findings of treaty bodies and monitoring bodies are taken into account in each other’s work. In addition, it states that the parties will cooperate in assisting Governments of Council of Europe member States in the implementation of recommendations by relevant international human rights mechanisms of the Council of Europe and the United Nations, including the universal periodic review. A similar arrangement has been agreed with the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe. 53. The increasing cooperation with regional human rights mechanisms creates important links between the national and international levels, serving both to reinforce the protection of human rights at the national level and feed regional collective experiences and efforts into the functioning of international human rights mechanisms for enhanced efficiency, relevance and impact. 11