A/HRC/39/58 I. Introduction 1. Pursuant to the adoption by the Human Rights Council of decision 32/115, the Advisory Committee was mandated to prepare a report on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, in particular on the progress made in the establishment of regional and subregional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights; their achievements in all regions of the world; and the role that has been played and can be played in the future by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in advancing cooperation between international and regional human rights mechanisms. The Committee was further mandated to identify ways to increase the role that regional and subregional arrangements play in promoting and protecting human rights and to reinforce universal human rights standards, including those contained in international human rights instruments, and to submit the report to the Human Rights Council at its thirty-ninth session. It is hoped that the present submission can take advantage of the celebrations marking the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the twenty-fifth anniversary of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action to promote the role of regional arrangements. 2. At its seventeenth session in August 2016, the Committee heard presentations from experts, held discussions on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights and established a drafting group for the preparation of a progress report. The group currently comprises Mohamed Bennani, Laurence Boisson de Chazournes, Mario Luis Coriolano, Karla Hananía de Valera, Mikhail Lebedev, Xinsheng Liu, Kaoru Obata, Katharina Pabel (Chair), Anantonia Reyes Prado, Changrok Soh (Rapporteur) and Imeru Tamrat Yigezu. 3. At the same session of the Advisory Committee, the drafting group elaborated a questionnaire, in accordance with decision 32/115, in which the Council encouraged the Committee to consider the views and inputs of relevant stakeholders. The questionnaire was disseminated to various stakeholders, including States Members of the United Nations, international and regional organizations, relevant special procedures mandate holders and treaty bodies, national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, with a deadline of 31 October 2016. As of 1 February 2017, 23 responses to the questionnaire had been received, including 9 from States, 5 from non-governmental organizations (NGOs), 7 from national human rights institutions and 2 from other organizations. II. Establishment of regional and subregional human rights mechanisms 4. The present report identifies five regions or areas where regional human rights mechanisms have been (or are to be) established; Europe, the Americas, Africa, the Arab States and Asia. 1 The first four regions already possess regional and subregional mechanisms while Asia only has a few subregional mechanisms. Although regional and subregional human rights bodies are very different, particularly in how their jurisdictions and responsibilities overlap, the present study treats them as different facets of the same process of localizing the protection and promotion of human rights. An overview of those arrangements is set out below. 5. Europe has one of the most effective human rights regimes, stemming in part from its combination of expert networks and intergovernmental cooperation. Its origins date back to the formation of the Council of Europe in 1949 and the adoption of the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms in 1950. The European Court of Human Rights, established in 1959 and restructured through Protocol 11 in 1998, functions as the main human rights protection mechanism in Europe. All 47 Council of Europe member States are party to the European Convention on Human Rights. Judges are elected 1 For the purposes of this report, Asia refers to the entire Asia-Pacific region, including Oceania. 3