A/HRC/43/31 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted by the Advisory Committee to the Human Rights Council pursuant to its resolution 37/23, in which the Council requested the Committee to conduct a study on the role of technical assistance and capacity-building in fostering mutually beneficial cooperation in promoting and protecting human rights, and to submit a report thereon to the Council before its forty-third session. 2. At its twenty-first session, the Advisory Committee established a drafting group composed of Mohamed Bennani, Alessio Bruni, Ion Diaconu, Ludovic Hennebel, Xinsheng Liu (Chair), Ajai Malhotra, Obata Kaoru, Elizabeth Salmon, Dheerujall Seetulsingh and Changrok Soh. At its twenty-third session, the Committee heard presentations from experts on the topic. 3. In order to prepare the report, the Committee addressed a note verbale to States and other stakeholders in which it invited them to provide input. A total of 15 States replied to the invitation of the Committee: Australia, Canada, China, Côte d’Ivoire, France, Germany, Japan, Kuwait, Mauritius, Morocco, New Zealand, the Philippines, the Russian Federation, Switzerland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. One human rights institution and three non-governmental organizations also replied to the invitation. II. Definition and history of technical assistance and capacitybuilding 4. Technical assistance has been defined as a form of aid given to less developed countries by, in particular, the international community, represented by the United Nations and its specialized agencies and, to a lesser degree, by developed States and nongovernmental organizations. 5. Capacity-building has been defined by the Handong Global University as the process of developing and strengthening the skills, abilities, processes and resources that organizations and communities need to survive, adapt and thrive in a fast-changing world. 6. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), technical cooperation refers to both technical assistance and capacity-building. It is aimed at identifying and addressing knowledge and capacity gaps by facilitating constructive dialogue and positive change with national counterparts. It is led by OHCHR at the request and with the agreement of States, and includes a comprehensive assessment of the situation of human rights in a given country, with a view to aligning laws, policies, institutions and practices with international standards and obligations (A/HRC/27/41, paras. 8–9). 7. Technical assistance and capacity-building may take different forms, such as training, scholarships, the organization of seminars and conferences on specific subjects, or country visits by experts. 8. Technical assistance and capacity-building cover different fields and subjects, such as improving domestic legislation and the administration of justice, monitoring political elections, promoting economic and social development in general, agriculture, health, education, employment, environment, training of public officials, improving places of detention and treaty reporting. 9. Technical assistance and capacity-building have a history that goes back to the conference of San Francisco of 1945. States at that conference were aware that building and maintaining peace and security in the world required the promotion of economic, social and humanitarian development, especially of less developed countries, since there was a large, even dangerous disparity in the level of development and standard of living between developed and less developed countries. 10. Since the United Nations and its specialized agencies cannot, however, provide direct loans for financing investments and development projects in less developed countries, they 3