A/HRC/41/29
their oversight role); and enhance participation (as elective bodies to which civil society
and national human rights institutions have access).
22.
OHCHR is actively promoting the role of parliaments and parliamentary human
rights committees in the universal periodic review process, including through subregional
workshops to share good practices in the preparation of the reviews, and in the
implementation of and follow-up to the universal periodic review recommendations. In
these workshops, OHCHR has pledged to continue to support parliaments in their
engagement in the review process, in close cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union,
the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions and the United Nations
Development Programme (UNDP). Partnerships have also been developed to this end with
the International Organization of la Francophonie and the Community of Portuguesespeaking Countries.
III. Results achieved through the implementation of activities
supported by the Voluntary Fund during 2018
23.
The activities financed through the Voluntary Fund in 2018 can be divided into three
categories: (a) activities of OHCHR field presences; (b) direct support to Governments; and
(c) a regional workshop on universal periodic review preparation and implementation of
recommendations. Support to OHCHR field presences was provided for activities in
Argentina, Cambodia, Costa Rica, Fiji, Jamaica, the Niger and Uruguay. Based on a request
from the Government of Mongolia (where OHCHR does not have a field presence), a
comprehensive one-and-a-half-year project was developed, focusing on different elements,
including a national preventive mechanism; business and human rights; the rights of lesbian,
gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex persons; a national mechanism for reporting and
follow-up; and an e-learning platform in the National Human Rights Commission.
24.
With the assistance of the Voluntary Fund, the OHCHR country office in Cambodia
helped implement recommendations from the first two cycles of the universal periodic
review with regard to the justice system and land rights, and supported enhanced
stakeholders’ consultations on the implementation and monitoring of international human
rights recommendations. In the justice sector, the country office contributed to the
professionalization of the criminal justice system by enhancing the capacity of judges to
apply international human rights law in the area of pretrial detention. In the land sector, the
office worked to enhance the capacity of local authorities to implement the land titling
process for indigenous peoples’ communities.
25.
As part of its broader work to help consolidate the rule of law and increase
accountability, OHCHR is working with the Ministry of Justice and the Supreme Council
of Magistracy to reduce both the number of people held in pretrial detention and the
duration of detentions. With the support of the Voluntary Fund, the country office in
Cambodia trained 90 judges and clerks on pretrial detention and legal reasoning. The
training provided a unique opportunity to highlight the importance of human rights
standards-compliant legal reasoning when ordering pretrial detention. Participating judges
and judicial clerks also learned how to better use a pretrial detention form previously
developed by the Ministry of Justice with support from OHCHR.
26.
For several years, human rights mechanisms have expressed concern about the lack
of tenure security for indigenous communities in Cambodia, in particular the complex and
costly communal land titling process. With the support of the Voluntary Fund, the OHCHR
country office produced a government-sanctioned manual on the communal land titling
process, developed in collaboration with the relevant line ministries and indigenous
organizations, aimed at assisting local authorities and indigenous communities in carrying
out the titling process.
27.
In a context of limited space for civil society to meaningfully participate in public
discussions, the OHCHR country office organized workshops that raised awareness among
Cambodian civil society organizations of the importance of the universal periodic review
process and their formal role therein, and supported interactions with the main
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