Strengthen the effectiveness of international instruments to promote and protect human rights.

The ratification of international conventions has made significant progress, even if certain Optional Protocols have yet to be ratified by several countries. The implementation of these international instruments at national level remains a major challenge, which relates directly to the institution and operations. Even if prime responsibility for the promotion and protection of these rights remains with the governments and parliaments, the principal task of national mechanisms for the protection and promotion of human rights is to ensure monitoring of the effective implementation of conventions. Other national mechanisms should also be put in place or made more effective such as for example, national reporting mechanisms on treaty bodies, the prevention of torture, and special procedures or national human rights institutions. However, these national mechanisms often suffer from being under-equipped in terms of access to information, capacity to raise awareness and experience difficulties in demanding their rights.