A/HRC/37/3 320 State officials from 135 States have benefited from the programme. The programme also launched a general reporting manual and trainers’ guide, and is finalizing a corresponding online tool. The OHCHR Guide on National Preventive Mechanisms (NPMs) will be published at the outset of 2018, and trainers’ guides on the covenants on civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights are under preparation. 7. During its seventy-first session, the General Assembly considered the first biennial report of the Secretary-General on the status of the human rights treaty body system pursuant to its resolution 68/268 (A/71/118), and approved additional meeting time for the treaty bodies and almost half of the corresponding staff resources that were required in the light of paragraphs 26 and 27 of that resolution. Pending the granting of the further resources, during the next biennium, treaty bodies will not be able to deliver on all of the targets contained in the resolution, making it essential to initiate the review foreseen in paragraph 41 of resolution 68/268 well before 2020. 2. Human Rights Council 8. The Human Rights Council continued its heavy workload with 140 meetings in total. The number of interactive dialogues on reports and oral updates increased. Enhanced interactive dialogues also increased from one in 2015 to three (on the human rights of migrants and the situation of human rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and in South Sudan) in 2017, OHCHR supported the Human Rights Council Bureau in its efforts to address its workload in the light of the ceiling of the annual meetings that will be serviced by the United Nations Office at Geneva. 9. OHCHR continued to support the independent commissions of inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic and Burundi, as well as the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, including by facilitating, at the request of the latter, a workshop on sexual and gender-based violence. It is also supporting new mandates created during the period under review, including an independent, international fact-finding mission to establish the facts and circumstances of human rights violations in Myanmar, in particular in Rakhine State, and a team of international experts to collect and preserve information and to forward conclusions to the judicial authorities of the Democratic Republic of the Congo to ensure accountability concerning the events in the Kasai regions. Pursuant to the request of the Human Rights Council in its resolution 36/31, the High Commissioner established a group of eminent international and regional experts to monitor and report on the situation of human rights in Yemen. 10. The Voluntary Technical Assistance Trust Fund to Support the Participation of Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States in the work of the Human Rights Council, administered by OHCHR, enabled 27 delegates, including 18 women from 26 countries, to attend Council sessions. Pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 34/40,two briefings for delegations of least developed countries and small island developing States were held in New York, in October. 3. Universal periodic review 11. The third cycle of the universal periodic review began in May 2017. OHCHR facilitated the review of 28 Member States by the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review at its twenty-seventh and twenty-eighth sessions. 12. The Voluntary Trust Fund for Participation in the Universal Periodic Review, administered by OHCHR, enabled representatives of 15 States under review to participate in the review process. In May 2017, OHCHR initiated briefings for delegations participating in the review of their States, aiming to provide information on follow-up processes and measures for the implementation of recommendations of human rights mechanisms, in particular the universal periodic review. The briefings were welcome by Member States and non-governmental organizations, and will be offered to delegations throughout the third cycle. 13. To facilitate the follow-up on and implementation of recommendations, the Office initiated a practice of communicating with Ministers for Foreign Affairs after the adoption of review outcomes on areas deemed to require special attention. The OHCHR3