A/HRC/20/20 lawyers and public defenders - should therefore be provided with human rights training and capacity-building. 8. It may be difficult to accept that the main actors of the justice system may lack the knowledge related to international human rights law and the State obligations entailed therein. It must be said that most of these actors, especially senior ones, have not had the opportunity to study international human rights law at university, since human rightsrelated matters have only recently and gradually been introduced into the curricula of university faculties and law schools. This situation must be recognized in order to urgently move forward and work to remedy it. 9. The independence of the judiciary is based on the competence, professionalism, impartiality and integrity of its actors, as well as on the upholding of its responsibility as an institution that is one of the three branches of the State and which is entrusted with promoting and ensuring respect for rule of law at the national level. 10. The global thematic study aims at filling the gaps observed in the existing capacitybuilding mechanisms which, it seems, have limited results,2 by identifying the internal and structural elements of human rights training programmes and justice systems and of their worldwide functioning, the content of current capacity-building courses in the area of international human rights law (from those provided by universities to those promoted by courts and/or judicial academies), and the real and potential obstacles to capacity-building. 11. The first part of the preparation for the study included the addressing of a questionnaire to, inter alia, Member States, courts of justice, associations of magistrates, bar associations, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations to gather information on the issue. In the present report, the Special Rapporteur evaluates the results of the first stage. 12. The present report is to be followed by regional consultations, which will allow a more detailed and in-depth assessment of existing capacity-building programmes, such as by identifying good practices, and their effective integration and application of international and regional human rights instruments and standards, including by collecting national judicial decisions reflecting the application of human rights norms in concrete domestic cases. 13. Regional consultations, the second part in the project, should comprise meetings to be held in different regions in order to allow the Special Rapporteur to gather, examine and share information and trends on human rights capacity-building for judicial actors, to compare successes and difficulties, and to discuss possible courses of action regarding qualification or capacity-building programmes for justice system actors and institutions, judicial schools, training centres and non-governmental organizations. 14. The Special Rapporteur wishes to use the regional consultations as a mechanism to promote the development and use of human rights manuals in the field of administration of justice such as, inter alia, those prepared by OHCHR and the International Bar Association, as well as the Human Rights Manual for Prosecutors prepared by the International Association of Prosecutors. It is expected that persons benefiting from such training, in particular judges, magistrates, prosecutors, lawyers and public defenders, would gain comprehensive knowledge and understanding of the functioning of the international and regional human rights protection systems. 2 A/HRC/14/26, paras. 24 and 27. 5