UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD case law of the European Court of Human Rights related to combating discrimination and relevant positive obligations of State authorities (with special emphasis on police), prohibition of torture and inhuman and degrading treatment, right to privacy, and addressing hate crimes. As a result of consistent advocacy that was undertaken by OHCHR, NGOs and the NHRI, the Parliament passed the Law on the State Inspector. The Law has two key functions, namely monitoring the protection of personal data and sanctioning infractions of personal data by State bodies (which was previously part of the mandate of the Data Protection Inspector) and the investigation of alleged serious human rights abuses by law enforcement officials. The Law will enter into force on 1 July 2019. OHCHR helped to strengthen the Parliament’s partnership with the NHRI. The staff of the NHRI was trained by OHCHR to serve as trainers for the Parliament’s Human Rights Committee and the Legal Affairs Committee. Since then, the Parliament passed a resolution calling on the relevant ministries to implement the NHRI’s recommendations. Two parliamentary hearings were conducted to discuss the implementation of NHRI’s recommendations by the government. A5 – The UN assistance efforts in the justice sector of the South Caucasus substantially integrate international norms and standards and the processes for discussing these issues are further institutionalized by the UN and the governments of the region. OHCHR contributed to integrating international human rights norms, standards and principles, as well as the recommendations of the human rights mechanisms, into the UN common country programmes in the region. 298 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD In Azerbaijan, OHCHR collaborated with the UNCT and the National Coordination Council for Sustainable Development Secretariat to organize a workshop, in July, on SDG localization and prioritization. The workshop focused on the prioritization of SDGs, targets and indicators and their translation into the national context, the recommendations outlined in the Mainstreaming, Acceleration and Policy Support (MAPS) mission report, and the Baku Principles and documents related to voluntary national review (VNR) priorities. The outcomes of the workshop contributed to the preparations of Azerbaijan’s 2019 VNR and the concept development of its 2030 Vision. The event brought together representatives from government agencies, including the Deputy Prime Minister, UN agencies, international organizations and civil society. In May, following the completion of Azerbaijan’s third UPR cycle and the publication of the UPR Working Group report and adoption of its UPR outcome, OHCHR translated all UPR documentation into Azerbaijani and prepared a matrix of UPR recommendations. Both documents were submitted to the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for further dissemination to the NMRF in order to facilitate their follow-up activities. OHCHR also disseminated these materials to the UNCT’s members, international organizations and national stakeholders. Late in 2018, OHCHR took the lead in coordinating the UNCT’s programme activities to support the implementation process of the UPR recommendations through the UN Human Rights Thematic Group. To this end, the UNCT produced a specific matrix that outlined the agreed inputs of its members. In Georgia, OHCHR provided technical advice to UN partners, in particular UNDP and UNICEF, with regard to their work on the justice sector, especially in relation to free legal aid. It also focused on a number of key issues, such as the relationship between the Legal Aid Bureau and the Bar Association, to ensure that legal aid is available to marginalized populations. Participation (P) P4 – In at least one country, persons with disabilities make increasing use of national protection systems. OHCHR contributed to increasing the use of national protection systems in compliance with international human rights norms and standards by persons with disabilities in Azerbaijan. OHCHR established a legal aid resource centre in Baku, Azerbaijan. During the reporting period, the centre provided two types of services: free professional legal assistance to members of vulnerable groups, including persons with disabilities, those with a low income and others seeking access to justice or legal redress in cases of alleged human rights violations; and free space for capacity-building, awareness-raising and other outreach activities for the benefit of civil society and lawyers’ community members, with a special focus on the promotion and protection of economic, social and cultural rights. As a result, between February and December, 355 applicants accessed the centre’s free legal services and received legal assistance on a broad range of matters, including representation in civil and administrative court cases, rights to social benefits, property rights, family law and labour rights. Clients received services regarding various administrative, civil and criminal cases, including advice on procedural matters and assistance in preparing and submitting lawsuit, motions and other documents to courts of different levels, as well as requests, instances and complaints to public institutions. In addition to legal services rendered in Baku, OHCHR closely collaborated with the NHRI and Bar Association to organize monthly on-site legal services in the regions of Azerbaijan, where 207 out of 355 cases were handled. According to the centre’s data, the 355 applicants that received legal services included 160 women, 100 persons with disabilities, 160 persons with a low income, 70 persons who were unemployed and 25 persons with internally displaced person status. The centre undertook litigation in 60 cases (i.e. civil cases and lawsuits) and the remaining cases were addressed through administrative proceedings and consultations. A total of 140 cases dealt with social security status, 60 cases were related to property and housing rights and 50 cases were focused on labour and civil disputes. The OHCHR-supported centre also served as a resource hub that provided access to national legislative data, international human rights instruments and other human rights-related educational materials for CSOs and lawyers’ community members. At the premises, OHCHR facilitated nine capacity-building events, including seminars, round-table talks, trainings and workshops. In total, the events brought together 154 participants, including CSOs, journalists, social workers, teachers and others. The events highlighted the promotion and protection of women’s rights and the rights of the child, the role of media in the protection of human rights, sensitization of the mass media on social issues, youth participation and leadership. Mechanisms (M) M2 – More civil society organizations submit alternative reports to the UPR and treaty bodies in two countries of the sub-region. The Office contributed to building the capacity of civil society organizations working on human rights in Armenia and Azerbaijan to engage with international human rights mechanisms by producing educational materials and organizing training sessions for civil society and the legal community. In Azerbaijan, the Office translated into Azerbaijani 29 educational materials, including compilations of the key general comments and recommendations, as well as the most recent concluding observations issued by the treaty bodies and the final report on Azerbaijan of the Working Group on the UPR issued following its third cycle review in May. Over 5,000 copies of the human rights and rule of law-related materials were made available in the national language and almost 2,500 publications were distributed to national stakeholders, including representatives of the Government, civil society and lawyers’ community members. of the UN human rights system. Of the 16 training sessions, 12 sessions were delivered in Baku and four sessions were delivered in the cities of Sheki and Ganja. In Armenia, OHCHR awarded a grant to a civil society organization to deliver training on human rights monitoring and reporting to international human rights mechanisms for grass-roots organizations, most of which work outside of the capital, Yerevan. In addition, an OHCHR staff member who was temporarily deployed to Armenia delivered a training to civil society organizations on international human rights mechanisms and their synergies and differences with regional human rights mechanisms. In addition, OHCHR organized and delivered 16 training sessions for representatives of civil society and the legal community to build their capacity in relation to human rights monitoring, assessment and reporting to the international human rights mechanisms. In total, 117 representatives from various CSOs and the legal community, (53 women and 64 men) enhanced their knowledge and skills in human rights monitoring techniques, including on the collection of information, undertaking legal and information analysis, documentation and reporting, corrective action and follow-up and evaluation in the context UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 299