A/HRC/41/25 39. OHCHR organized the second session of the Forum on Democracy, Human Rights and the Rule of Law, held in Geneva on 22 and 23 November 2018, on the theme of “Parliaments as promoters of human rights, democracy and the rule of law”. Referring to the report on the contribution of parliaments to the work of the Human Rights Council and the draft principles on parliaments and human rights (see A/HRC/38/25 and annex I), Martin Chungong, Secretary-General of IPU and Chair of the Forum, encouraged parliamentary involvement in the universal periodic review and other United Nations human rights mechanisms. Parliamentarians needed to ensure that the recommendations of United Nations human rights mechanisms were implemented, particularly as implementation often required legislative changes. He referred to the role played by international and regional parliamentary organizations in strengthening the attention paid by parliaments to human rights issues. Mr. Chungong called on all present to examine the recommendations in the report on the Forum (A/HRC/40/65) and consider how they could be implemented. Further engagement between members of parliaments from francophone States participating in the universal periodic review and Chairs of existing parliamentary human rights committees worldwide are envisaged in June 2019, in close cooperation with OIF and IPU. In November 2018, the Commonwealth Secretariat and the Universal Rights Group published a study, in which they made the point that “the domestic implementation of universal human rights obligations and commitments is at the very top of the international political agenda”.2 In the conclusions of the study, the OHCHR report and the draft principles annexed to it were referenced, the authors noting that they mirrored the work of the Commonwealth “in promoting consideration and elaboration of universal principles to guide the engagement of national parliaments with the UN human rights system and mechanisms”.3 F. Ensuring a strong and independent judiciary 40. In his most recent report on human rights in the administration of justice, the Secretary-General stated that equal and effective access to justice was an essential component of the right to an effective remedy and could be implemented only by an independent and impartial justice system (A/73/210, para. 4). The Secretary-General further noted that several human rights mechanisms had highlighted the importance of access to justice in the legal protection of human rights and had provided guidance on its implementation. 41. OHCHR contributes to the overall United Nations effort in the area of administration of justice, including by supporting constitutional or legislative reforms to ensure compliance with human rights law; protecting the human rights of persons deprived of their liberty; enhancing the human rights knowledge of members of the judiciary and law enforcement officers; and supporting transitional justice processes and mechanisms. 42. The role of an independent judiciary in ensuring effective access to justice has also increasingly been the subject of Human Rights Council resolutions and of recommendations addressed to Member States during the universal periodic review, also opening up space for discussion on such issues at the national level. OHCHR provides support to judges and lawyers worldwide, including in the implementation of human rights recommendations, at the request of Member States. For example, in 2018 OHCHR supported Jamaica, through its human rights adviser, on the implementation of recommendations from the universal periodic review focused on raising awareness of international human rights norms among judges, lawyers and prosecutors to ensure that they are taken into account before national courts. For that purpose, an online training course on international human rights law for the judiciary was developed. The training entails four modules (overview of international human rights law; rights of persons deprived of their liberty; right to a fair trial; rights of persons living with HIV; and rights of 2 3 See “The global human rights implementation agenda: the role of national parliaments”, pp. 12 and 40. Ibid., p. 41. 9