A/HRC/20/20 30. It should be noted that most participating States have a unitary State structure, are deemed to have a republican Government and have, predominantly, civil or continental law as the basis of their legal system. GLOBAL THEMATIC STUDY HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION AND CONTINUING TRAINING OF LEGAL PROFESSIONALS Participating countries – state structure, form of government and legal system 80% 76% 76% 70% 60% 47% 50% % 40% 26% 30% 17% 20% 19% 17% 10% 1% 1% 0% Unitary Federal State structure Republic Monarchy Hereditary Form of government Civi Law Mixed Law Common Law Islamic Law Legal system of government 31. On the basis of the information gathered during her missions and activities, the Special Rapporteur observed that capacity-building for judges, prosecutors, lawyers and public defenders is more complex in federal States owing to the diversity of their legislations and the specific justice system in each State and at the federal level. It is very challenging to administer justice in a context of coexistence of State and federal courts owing to the diversity of rules of competence (an obstacle to effective justice), the difference in the functioning of systems and the rules of procedures in each State, also at the federal level, the difficulty of communication between the two levels of jurisdiction (State and federal), the differences in court infrastructure, and the difference in access to them. Considering the complexity of the functioning of the justice system and the fact that the population also perceives it as being complex, more efforts are needed to ensure access to justice. 32. With regard to the justice system, according to the replies received, an estimated average4 of 47 per cent of States had a civil law-based legal system, 26 per cent a mixed law system, 19 per cent a common law-based system, and 1 per cent a system based on Islamic law. In most replies, mixed law legal system comprised common law and Islamic law. The Superior Court Judges Association of Canada reported that Canada is a federal State in which the common law system applies in most provinces and territories, except in the province of Quebec, where a civil law-based system applies (except for matters of criminal law). 33. It should also be noted that, to a certain extent, there has been a worldwide trend to migrate from one legal system to the other, from civil law to common law, in such States as Chile, Colombia, Georgia and Mexico in, inter alia, procedural matters. The Special Rapporteur believes that oral proceedings existing under common law, together with the plea bargaining system, have been regarded as important tools to speed legal proceedings 4 Estimated average denotes the average obtained from the replies received for a specific question, also taking into consideration the fact that some States did not reply to all questions. 9

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