A/HRC/38/25 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 17 May 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-eighth session 18 June–6 July 2018 Agenda items 2 and 5 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Human rights bodies and mechanisms Contribution of parliaments to the work of the Human Rights Council and its universal periodic review Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights* Summary The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 35/29, in which the Council requested the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to prepare a study, in close cooperation with the Inter-Parliamentary Union and in consultation with States, United Nations agencies and other relevant stakeholders, on how to promote and enhance synergies between parliaments and the work of the Human Rights Council and its universal periodic review, and to present it to the Council at its thirty-eighth session, in order to provide States and other relevant stakeholders with elements that could serve as orientation to strengthen their interaction towards the effective promotion and protection of human rights. The present report focuses on the role of parliaments in the field of human rights and contains an analysis of responses to a questionnaire for parliaments sent by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights to Member States, United Nations agencies and other stakeholders through a note verbale dated 16 November 2017, pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 35/29. The report contains recommendations regarding the setting up of a parliamentary human rights committee and the strengthening of engagement with the international human rights mechanisms, especially the universal periodic review. * Annexes are circulated as received in the language of submission only. GE.18-08016(E) 