A/HRC/44/19 human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals participated in the training. In May 2019, a follow-up session allowed participants to effectively monitor progress in the implementation of the national action plan. In October 2019, on the occasion of the midterm review, a workshop to assess progress in achieving implementation of recommendations from the review was held. More than 60 stakeholders participated in the workshop and took part in the activities aimed at supporting the Government in the implementation of the recommendations. 47. The inclusion of civil society allowed for a better knowledge of the state of implementation of the national action plan in Mauritania, as well as the realization of human rights indicators for the 2020 national report. All these activities resulted in a better understanding of remaining gaps in the implementation of human rights recommendations, and allowed the interministerial committee to identify its priority actions prior to the universal periodic review of Mauritania in 2020. 48. The Voluntary Fund enabled the OHCHR Regional Office for Southern Africa to deploy a national United Nations Volunteer to work part-time in the Ministry of Justice of Mozambique. The Volunteer assisted the Ministry with capacity-building of its staff and those of the interministerial committee on human rights-related issues. The Volunteer also assisted in the development of a repository of relevant international instruments ratified by Mozambique, showing the reporting status for each instrument, and in the use of a matrix of universal periodic review recommendations linked to relevant Sustainable Development Goals. In addition, the Volunteer facilitated the work of the joint United Nations human rights team and its engagement with the human rights mechanisms. The Voluntary Fund was also used to translate into Portuguese recommendations emanating from the universal periodic review and other human rights mechanisms, allowing a wide dissemination of these instruments at the national level. 49. In Nigeria, with the assistance of the Voluntary Fund, the Human Rights Adviser helped to implement repeated recommendations emanating from the three cycles of the universal periodic review regarding the criminal justice and penitentiary system. In 2019, the Correctional Service Act entered into force. This law overhauled the penitentiary system, providing for non-custodial sentences and the commutation of death sentences to life imprisonment for convicts on death row for 10 years or more, and it strengthened the focus on ensuring that penalties were in accordance with best global practices. 50. Using the Voluntary Fund, OHCHR supported a national workshop on the Correctional Service Act, which brought together relevant stakeholders in the administration of criminal justice from the federal and state levels, including representatives of the Federal Ministry of Justice, the Ministry of the Interior and law enforcement agencies, as well as judges, magistrates, attorneys general, Nigerian Correctional Service officials, rule of law experts and international partners. The aim of the workshop was to develop a strategic action plan for the effective implementation of the Act, including the establishment of the National and State Committees on Non-Custodial Measures, and to highlight the importance of additional trainings for Correctional Service personnel, among others. 51. In North Macedonia, the Voluntary Fund has been used to support the activities of the expert working group of the intersectoral human rights body, which is the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up for human rights recommendations. Following the country’s third universal periodic review, the expert working group updated the list of recommendations and drafted a new Recommendations Implementation Plan in 2019. With OHCHR assistance, the expert working group also developed a proposal for a dedicated web page and the introduction of a system of regular annual consultations with civil society, as well as consultations for specific reporting and follow-up tasks. During a workshop held in December 2019, the Recommendations Implementation Plan was shared for the first time with civil society organizations for a consultative process, prior to finalizing the Plan. Discussions with civil society were focused on tracking progress in the implementation of recommendations and on ways to increase transparency and inclusiveness of the work of the national mechanism for reporting and follow-up. 52. In October 2019, at the official request of the Government of Belgium, the Universal Periodic Review Branch of OHCHR in coordination with the OHCHR Regional Office in Brussels organized two-day national consultations on the theme of discrimination and racism. The consultations brought together representatives from all relevant stakeholders, 10