A/HRC/45/42 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 15 July 2020 Original: English Human Rights Council Forty-fifth session 14 September–2 October 2020 Agenda items 2 and 8 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Follow-up to and implementation of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action National institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights Report of the Secretary-General* Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 39/17, in which the Council requested the Secretary-General to submit a report on the implementation of the resolution at its forty-fifth session, including examples of best practices among national human rights institutions. The report covers the period from August 2019 to July 2020. It contains information on the activities undertaken by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to establish and strengthen national human rights institutions; on support provided by the United Nations Development Programme and other United Nations agencies, funds and programmes to national human rights institutions; on cooperation between such institutions and the international human rights system; and on support provided by the Office to the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and relevant regional networks. * The annexes to the present report are circulated as received, in the language of submission only. GE.20-09494(E) 