A/HRC/30/20 I. Introduction 1. In resolution 24/16, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to draft a study on the prevention of human rights violations and its practical implementation, and to present the study to its thirtieth session. As requested in the resolution, this study takes into account the outcome of the panel discussion on the role of prevention in the promotion and protection of human rights, held at the twenty-seventh session of the Council (A/HRC/28/30). 2. In preparation for this study, OHCHR sought contributions through a questionnaire addressed to States, national human rights institutions (NHRIs), civil society, relevant intergovernmental bodies and international organizations. The questionnaire covered issues including which legislative, judicial and administrative measures – as well as actionoriented policies, practices and strategies to prevent human rights violations and abuses – are in place at the national level; and provisions for effective remedies for victims. It sought information on policies and processes for collection, maintenance and analysis of statistical data on human rights; the steps taken to promote a human rights culture; the role of civil society; measures and procedures for following up on recommendations from international and regional human rights bodies; and the contribution of such bodies to the prevention of human rights violations. Information was provided by Albania, Argentina, Australia, Cuba, Cyprus, Georgia, Honduras, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Kazakhstan, Madagascar, Mexico, the Republic of Moldova, Paraguay, Qatar, Slovakia, Togo, Trinidad and Tobago, Ukraine and United Arab Emirates; as well as by Austrian Ombudsman Board, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Prisons, Finnish Human Rights Centre, Human Rights Commission of Malaysia, Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos Mexico, Commission Nationale des Droits de la Personne du Rwanda, Human Rights House of Albania, International Fellowship of Reconciliation, Jordan National Centre for Human Rights, Agence de Diffusion de Droit International Humanitaire en Afrique Centrale, National Human Rights Commission of Korea, Ombudsman of the Republic of Latvia, Promo-LEX Association, Scholars at Risk, and the Slovak National Centre for Human Rights.1 3. This report seeks to provide further content to the concept of prevention of human rights violations (Part II); identify practical means through which to prevent violations (Part III); and highlight the role of international and regional stakeholders (Part IV). II. Concept of prevention 4. By becoming parties to international treaties, States assume obligations and duties under international law to respect, protect and fulfil human rights for all persons within their territory or jurisdiction, without discrimination of any kind.2 Further, “States, including all branches thereof, have the primary responsibility for the promotion and protection of all human rights, including the prevention of human rights violations”.3 The 1 2 3 The full text of the replies is available from the Secretariat. Art. 2, International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Human Rights Committee’s General Comment 31 (2004); art. 2, Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Rights of the Child’s General Comment 5 (2003). A/HRC/RES/24/16, para. 2. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has held that States have “a legal duty to take reasonable steps to prevent human rights violations” (Velasquez Rodriguez v. Honduras, 29 July 1988). E. Decaux and S. Touzé, La Prévention des Violations des Droits de l’Homme (Paris, Editions A. Pedone, 2015). 3