A/HRC/17/28* 123. In the Human Rights Council the universal periodic review offers opportunities. The mandate of the new Special Rapporteur on freedom of assembly and of association 43 will be a welcome addition to the special procedures, with the mandates of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, and the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions retaining their relevance. Collaboration between these mandates in respect of managing demonstrations may be required. 124. Within the mandate on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, it is envisaged that country studies will in future be conducted on the basis of a number of agenda items that will be used for all countries in order to establish benchmarks. One of these agenda items will be regulations and practices regarding the use of force by the police. 125. The codes of conduct of organizations such as Interpol and the International Association of Police Chiefs – which are subject to occasional review – provide a way of reaching police forces worldwide. 126. Civil society also has an ongoing responsibility in terms of defining and monitoring applicable norms. At the regional level 127. The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights has a Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders. The Commission regularly adopts resolutions on human rights issues and elaborates rights in the African Charter. 128. The mandate of the Pan-African Parliament could be interpreted to include the drafting of model legislation, which could, for example, deal with the right to assembly. 129. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights engages this issue on a regular basis and has a Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression who plays an important role in this regard. 130. One of the most impressive regional initiatives on assembly law is the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE), 44 which has identified six guiding principles in respect of freedom of assembly. This project includes legal reviews of legislation dealing with assembly rights, as well as monitoring laws and practices related to assemblies, and could be regarded as a model for similar actions elsewhere. At the domestic level 131. Transition periods, where societies make a conscious effort to replace a repressive system with a more democratic one, offer windows of opportunity to incorporate international human rights standards into domestic systems. 132. There is a constant need for stock-taking and reform in respect of assembly rights in all societies. National human rights institutions and law reform commissions should also take up the cause. There could be ample opportunity in a number of countries for court challenges to assembly laws to be brought under the constitutions of these countries. 43 44 20 Human Rights Council resolution 15/21, para. 5. See OSCE/ODHIR, Guidelines on freedom of peaceful assembly (Warsaw, 2007), available at http://www.osce.org/odihr/24523; see also Neil Jarman and Michael Hamilton, “Protecting Peaceful Protest: The OSCE/ODIHR and freedom of peaceful assembly,” in Journal of Human Rights Practice 1:2 (2009), pp. 208-235.