A/HRC/28/31 I. Introduction 1. The Human Rights Council has, on several occasions, recognized the important role played by regional, subregional and interregional human rights arrangements. In its resolutions 6/20, 12/15, 18/14 and 24/19, it requested the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to hold international workshops to put forward concrete proposals on ways and means to strengthen cooperation between United Nations and regional arrangements in the field of human rights. 2. The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) thus organized such workshops in November 2008 (A/HRC/11/3), May 2010 (A/HRC/15/56), and December 2012 (A/HRC/23/18). Participants consistently stressed the need to strengthen cooperation between United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms through the establishment of specific mechanisms. 3. At the workshop held in December 2012, participants further discussed cooperation mechanisms, including focal points; systemized information sharing; cross-referencing of jurisprudence and recommendations of human rights mechanisms; replication of best practices; and enhanced cooperation with other relevant stakeholders, including national actors such as national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). OHCHR submitted a report (A/HRC/23/18) on that workshop, including its conclusions and recommendations, to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-third session. 4. In its resolution 24/19, the Human Rights Council requested the High Commissioner to hold a workshop on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights to take stock of developments since the 2012 workshop. The Council requested that the workshop include three thematic discussions on: the mainstreaming of economic, social and cultural rights; the economic, social and cultural rights of persons with disabilities; and economic, social and cultural rights of women. The Council also requested the High Commissioner to present to it, at its twenty-eighth session, a report containing a summary of the discussions held at the workshop and on the progress towards the implementation of resolution 24/19. 5. OHCHR therefore organized the workshop on 8 and 9 October 2014 in Geneva (see agenda in annex I). Based on the concrete and practical experience of the regional mechanisms, the workshop was aimed at sharing information on best practices and lessons learned, and new possible forms of cooperation. Participants included representatives of the secretariats of United Nations human rights treaty bodies and special procedures, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the Council of Europe, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, the ASEAN Commission on the Promotion and Protection of the Rights of Women and Children and the Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). The present report summarizes the discussions held during the workshop and includes its conclusions and recommendations. II. Progress in cooperation between United Nations and regional human rights mechanisms 6. In accordance with Human Rights Council resolution 24/19, the first session of the workshop was devoted to taking stock of developments since the 2012 workshop, namely, 4