A/HRC/35/20 II. Experiences and practices in technical cooperation and capacity-building since the establishment of the Human Rights Council A. Building and strengthening national frameworks and institutions for the protection of human rights 1. Technical cooperation with executive branches, judiciaries and parliaments 6. Rather than attempting to present a completely comprehensive picture of the technical cooperation activities of OHCHR, the following sections are aimed at providing diverse but emblematic examples of the technical cooperation activities of OHCHR over the last decade. OHCHR support for transitional justice initiatives 7. Transitional justice has gained traction over the past decade as an important area of human rights which has also seen extensive normative and practical development. Hence, many governments and national societies have solicited the technical cooperation of OHCHR in order to understand the basic concepts, access comparative experiences from other countries and apply best practices when establishing transitional justice institutions and processes. 8. In close cooperation with expert organizations such as the International Center for Transitional Justice, OHCHR has developed a series of guidance tools which constitute the conceptual and best-practice bedrock of its technical assistance on transitional justice. Those tools are gathered together in the OHCHR publication series Rule-of-Law Tools for Post-Conflict States and cover areas such as truth commissions, prosecution, reparations, amnesties, vetting and national consultations on transitional justice. 2 9. Over the past two decades, OHCHR has built up a comprehensive body of comparative experience from supporting transitional justice processes on all continents, from promoting a victim-oriented approach and from facilitating government consideration of judicial and non-judicial transitional justice measures, such as truth commissions and reparations programmes as well as prosecution initiatives. 10. In Sri Lanka, for example, transitional justice was the main focus of the engagement by OHCHR with the Government in 2016. In particular, through the Human Rights Adviser, OHCHR provided technical support to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Secretariat for Coordinating Reconciliation Mechanisms on the design and implementation of the national consultation process and supported the consultations carried out by a government-appointed task force of eminent civil society members. The consultations were held to elicit views from a broad range of stakeholders on how institutions and processes for transitional justice should be designed in order to promote accountability and reconciliation. 11. In Nepal, the comprehensive peace agreement of 2006 launched a transitional justice process that included the establishment of a truth and reconciliation commission. OHCHR worked with all stakeholders to provide technical advice and capacity-building on the role of truth commissions in transitions, on reparations and on justice and accountability processes. For example, it provided the Government with expert documentation on truth and reconciliation commissions, copies of truth and reconciliation commission legislation from other countries, translated versions of OHCHR’s own rule-of-law tool on truth and reconciliation commissions, and briefings on truth and reconciliation commissions to key constituencies, including women legislators. Later, OHCHR issued an analysis of the enabling law for the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission and its Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, providing guidance on its compliance with 2 See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/RuleOfLaw/Pages/TransitionalJustice.aspx. 3