A/HRC/34/24
among States on how best to follow up on the recommendations made by United Nations
human rights mechanisms, that is the universal periodic review, the treaty bodies and the
special procedures.
9.
The Deputy High Commissioner noted that this panel discussion opened up the
space to consider follow-up in the context of a comprehensive State-driven process and in
consultation with national and international stakeholders. It also provided the opportunity to
appreciate the value of effective national action and sound public policy development and
to learn more about, identify more clearly and later disseminate more widely information
on the keys to effective national human rights follow-up systems. Finally, it enabled States
to consider and address their needs for technical cooperation in order to strengthen this
virtuous cycle, in terms of both institutions and mechanisms to promote and coordinate
follow-up and specific thematic issues.
10.
As a contribution to that consideration, the Deputy High Commissioner introduced
the information leaflet on international cooperation and national human rights follow-up
systems and processes prepared by OHCHR. Intended as a useful one-stop guidance on
how effective engagement can take place, the leaflet outlines the different elements of
follow-up systems and processes, and presents the different tools developed by OHCHR, as
well as the technical assistance offered by both OHCHR and United Nations country teams
in all these areas. 1 She announced the forthcoming launch of additional guidance on
effective State engagement with international human rights mechanisms through the
establishment of national mechanisms for reporting and follow-up 2 and mentioned the
series of knowledge cafés on national human rights follow-up systems and processes 3
organized by OHCHR that took place on 10 November 2016 in support of the panel
discussion.
11.
The Deputy High Commissioner stressed the importance of establishing national
mechanisms for reporting and follow-up as they strengthened engagement with the human
rights mechanisms; enabled coordination among the branches of the State and its
specialized bodies; provided for sound consultative processes with relevant stakeholders,
such as national human rights institutions and civil society representatives from across the
board; and supported effective information management capacity. She mentioned a number
of key tools for effective follow-up, such as national implementation plans for following up
on human rights recommendations made by treaty bodies, the universal periodic review and
special procedures; the development of indicators to help assess the implementation and
impact of the recommendations on the ground, with a view to ensuring that efforts translate
into desired and tangible results on the human rights situation at country level; and the
creation and maintenance of a database to track and report on the implementation of
recommendations.
12.
In relation to the last point, the Deputy High Commissioner stated that OHCHR was
in the process of finalizing a Universal Human Rights Index Web Service, which would
enable the transfer of recommendations from the index to customized national databases. A
multilingual application to create national databases of recommendations and report on the
progress in the implementation of the recommendations would also be made available to
States, free of charge.
1
2
3
See annex; also available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/Panel/Leaflet.pdf.
See OHCHR, National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-up: A Practical Guide to Effective
State Engagement with International Human Rights Mechanisms (2016), available at
www.ohchr.org/Documents/Publications/HR_PUB_16_1_NMRF_PracticalGuide.pdf.
See OHCHR, Highlighting and demystifying the issue, flyer for the knowledge cafés on national
human rights follow-up systems and processes (2016), available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/
HRBodies/HRCouncil/Panel/FlyerKnowledgeCafes.pdf.
3
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