A/HRC/39/58 publish its performance assessment of regional mechanisms to identify areas where it can provide further support.38 30. Working towards this end, OHCHR has set up 12 regional offices and is currently carrying out plans to establish more in Asia. The regional offices have facilitated various forms of planning and cooperation between international and regional or subregional mechanisms. Key examples of those strategic activities include the annual meetings held by the secretariats of OHCHR and the Council of Europe since 2007; the joint declarations on the reinforcement of cooperation with the Council of Europe (in 2013) and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (in 2014); and the participation of judges from the European Court of Human Rights in the Human Rights Committee session in July 2016 and of judges from the European Court and the Inter-American Court in the session of the Committee against Torture in December 2017. OHCHR, which signed a joint declaration with the Inter-American Court in 2014, now participates in planning activities with both the Inter-American Commission and the Court, which in 2016 included meetings, training and seminars in Washington, D.C., Guatemala and Panama City. Another accomplishment was a workshop on regional and subregional human rights courts held at Strasbourg, France, in 2015, which allowed the sharing of jurisprudence and best practices by judges and experts from Africa, the Americas and Europe. 31. OHCHR plays a pivotal role in bridging the gap between regional human rights mechanisms and the broader international community. For example, joint public statements and technical cooperation with regional and subregional organizations have been an important tool in denouncing violations and in assisting States to comply with international legal standards. VI. Contribution of other actors to regional and subregional human rights arrangements National human rights institutions 32. National human rights institutions, which vary in size and capacity from country to country, support regional mechanisms directly by creating connections for national actors at the international level. For instance, in its response to the survey, the National Council for Human Rights of Egypt explained that the effectiveness of the African human rights mechanism could be improved by strengthening cooperation with national human rights institutions, increasing awareness of the competences and goals of both the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights and the African Court on Human and People’s Rights, exchanging experiences with other regional mechanisms and learning from success stories that have made these institutions more effective. It also noted that the African Union Commission and the Network of African National Human Rights Institutions signed a memorandum of understanding in January 2016 and have developed guidelines on the role of national human rights institutions in monitoring the implementation of the findings of the African Commission and the judgments of the African Court. European national human rights institutions have created the European Network of National Human Rights Institutions to coordinate their activities across a range of human rights issues. Finally, there is the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions, which was established in 1993. 33. Owing to their role of ensuring fluid connections with human rights actors, national human rights institutions have the potential to foster active dialogue between United Nations and regional human rights regimes worldwide. Such institutions network both with each other and with OHCHR in Geneva on a regular basis through annual meetings and in regional meetings. Given the now recognized international status of national human rights institutions, their potential to advance human rights is manifest. 39 The Iberoamerican 38 39 12 Survey response by the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights. See John von Doussa, “The potential role of national human rights institutions in the Pacific”, paper given at the Australasian Law Reform Agencies Conference (September 2008).