A/HRC/20/20 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 20 June 2012 Original: English Human Rights Council Twentieth session Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Gabriela Knaul Advance report on the global thematic study on human rights education and training of legal professionals* Summary The present is an advance report on the global thematic study on international human rights law capacity-building activities for judges, magistrates, prosecutors, public defenders and lawyers, which the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 15/3, requested the Special Rapporteur to submit to the Council at its twentieth session. It was prepared on the basis of the responses received from States, national human rights institutions and nongovernmental organizations to a questionnaire sent by the Special Rapporteur. In the report, the Special Rapporteur assesses the information received on the structural elements of current training initiatives on international human rights law. She considers that the knowledge of judges, magistrates, prosecutors, public defenders and lawyers and the application of international human rights law at the domestic level have a direct impact on combating impunity for human rights violations, enforcing the rule of law, strengthening democracy and ensuring human rights-based development. In the first stage of the global thematic study, the Special Rapporteur assesses international human rights education and the ongoing training of the main judicial actors. She explores current training programmes, the way they are conducted, how often they are offered, how their effectiveness is assessed, and the main obstacles to adequate capacitybuilding activities. * GE.12-14288 Late submission.