A/HRC/43/32 I. Introduction 1. In its resolutions 6/20, 12/15, 18/14, 24/19 and 30/3, 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 the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to hold international workshops to put forward concrete proposals on ways of strengthening cooperation between the United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) therefore organized such workshops in November 2008 (A/HRC/11/3), May 2010 (A/HRC/15/56), December 2012 (A/HRC/23/18), October 2014 (A/HRC/28/31) and October 2016 (A/HRC/34/23). 2. In its resolution 34/17, the Human Rights Council again requested the High Commissioner to hold, in 2019, a workshop on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, including a discussion on their role in combating racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance and in the implementation of the commitments in the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The Council also requested the High Commissioner to present to it, at its forty-third session, a report containing a summary of the discussions held at the workshop and the progress towards the implementation of resolution 34/17. 3. OHCHR therefore held a workshop in Geneva on 21 and 22 October 2019. 1 The aim of the workshop was to develop specific proposals for joint action by the United Nations, regional human rights mechanisms, national institutions and civil society to combat racism. It focused on sharing information on best practices, lessons learned and new possible forms of cooperation. 4. Panel discussions followed by interactive discussions were held during the workshop. The first panel focused on taking stock of developments in cooperation between United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms since 2016, including challenges, implementation gaps and lessons learned. The second panel discussed international and regional legal frameworks and mechanisms for protection against racism and discrimination. The third panel reflected on the link between the right to development, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Durban Declaration and Programme of Action. The fourth panel looked at groups in focus, namely people of African and Asian descent, indigenous peoples, migrants, refugees and Roma, among others. The fifth panel focused on national mechanisms for promotion, protection and monitoring in the fields of employment, health, policing and education. The present report summarizes the discussions held by the panels, including their conclusions and recommendations. 5. Participants included experts and representatives of the secretariats of the United Nations human rights treaty bodies, the special procedures of the Human Rights Council, the Court of Justice of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS), the East African Court of Justice, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the InterAmerican Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights, the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Arab Human Rights Committee and other regional, national and civil society organizations. On 23 October 2019, regional mechanisms’ focal points for cooperation held their annual meeting to discuss the followup to recommendations of previous workshops and to coordinate joint activities. 6. Ahead of the workshop, OHCHR organized two regional consultations: one with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, held in Washington, D.C., on 7 and 8 December 2018, and another with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, held in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt, on 26 April 2019. Those consultations focused on best practices, lessons learned and areas of cooperation between regional mechanisms and the United Nations on combating racism. They informed the agenda for the workshop on regional arrangements held in October 2019. In Paris on 26 and 27 September 2019 1 2 The programme of work is available from www.ohchr.org/EN/Countries/NHRI/Pages/Cooperation.aspx.