A/HRC/35/20 4. Using human rights recommendations to strengthen United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks (UNDAFs) and national development plans in Europe and Central Asia 55. Over the last decade, OHCHR has significantly increased its involvement in United Nations Development Assistance Framework processes around the world, particularly in Europe and Central Asia. Impact has been achieved through training on human rights-based approaches, active participation by OHCHR in United Nations country team/United Nations Development Assistance Framework coordination structures, the provision of clustered recommendations from the United Nations human rights mechanisms, analysis of national key human rights challenges and risks, and OHCHR inputs to initial United Nations Development Assistance Framework drafts. Additionally, in the Europe and Central Asia region, OHCHR has successfully supported the design and implementation of national human rights action plans, ensuring that they are synchronized with recommendations from all human rights mechanisms — especially from the universal periodic review — and that they are in line with the Sustainable Development Goals. Often, the Sustainable Development Goals indicators can be lined up with the United Nations Development Assistance Framework indicators, pointing towards goals and challenges also identified in the recommendations from the human rights mechanisms. In most cases, OHCHR support for United Nations Development Assistance Framework processes has been provided by field presences, including the OHCHR Regional Office for Central Asia and human rights advisors to resident coordinators and country teams, while the OHCHR headquarters in Geneva has engaged with United Nations Development Assistance Framework processes in countries of Europe and Central Asia as a non-resident entity of the United Nations system through engagement from Geneva or missions, so even without an OHCHR presence on the ground. 5. Using the United Nations Development Assistance Framework for follow-up on universal periodic review recommendations in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand 56. With the start of the second cycle of the universal periodic review in 2012, the OHCHR Regional Office for South-East Asia provided States in the region with support for reporting and following up on universal periodic review recommendations. 57. In this context, OHCHR contributed to strengthening the capacity of the United Nations country teams in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic and Thailand, in order to support each State’s follow-up and reporting efforts in the context of its United Nations Development Assistance Framework. Both United Nations Development Assistance Framework documents integrate a human rights-based approach and contain specific outcomes geared to assisting the countries in implementing prioritized universal periodic review recommendations, which include mainstreaming human rights in national policies. 58. The provision of support through the United Nations Development Assistance Framework furthers the strengthening of national ownership and commitment, as it is aimed at harmonizing and aligning programming priorities with national development priorities. E. Technical human rights cooperation by other United Nations agencies and programmes and by regional organizations 59. It is safe to say that all United Nations agencies provide some form of technical cooperation to States and national stakeholders on issues directly influencing rights holders’ enjoyment of their human rights. Unfortunately, the page limitation on the present report does not allow for comprehensive coverage of all those important activities. Here, only an indication of some of the priority issues addressed by a few agencies can be provided. The Board of Trustees in its reports to the Human Rights Council has described how this technical cooperation by other United Nations agencies is often guided by human rights recommendations issued to States. According to the Board of Trustees, OHCHR is playing an important role in supporting the integration of these recommendations into United Nations Development Assistance Frameworks and individual agency programmes, 12

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