HIGHLIGHTS OF RESULTS National Human Rights Action Plans Member States developed, adopted and implemented national human rights plans. They also compiled and systematized the recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms in order to facilitate their implementation and follow-up. In Cape Verde and Senegal, action plans were adopted which incorporated all of the recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms, while Cameroon, the Republic of the Congo and Equatorial Guinea engaged in the process of developing similar national plans of action. The Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi and Somalia already developed such plans and their validation and adoption are expected to take place in 2018. In addition, the Government of Tajikistan adopted a national plan to implement the recommendations issued by the UPR. In other countries, such as Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, the Gambia, Kenya, the Republic of the Congo, Sao Tomé and Principe and South Sudan, recommendations were compiled and clustered, with implementation matrices developed to follow up on their implementation. UN Human Rights also supported countries’ efforts to develop and improve their digital applications to facilitate the monitoring of the implementation of recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms. For instance, in 2016, the Government of Uganda launched a tool that has been updated to incorporate a monitoring and evaluation framework. In the Dominican Republic, a web-based monitoring application was launched, which is the first tool of its kind in the Caribbean. In Paraguay, a revised version of the monitoring tool, named SIMORE, was launched, which enables users to link the implementation of the recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms with relevant Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A similar tool was piloted in Saudi Arabia in May. Reporting In 2017, the human rights treaty bodies considered a total of 165 State Party reports and received an additional 138 State Party reports. Furthermore, through the Treaty Body Capacity-Building Programme, State officials from approximately 70 countries were trained on reporting to the human rights treaty bodies. The officials trained committed to replicating the training activities at the national level and, to help underpin these capacity-building efforts, UN Human Rights launched a Training Manual on Reporting to the Treaty Bodies and an accompanying Facilitators Guide. Among the reports submitted in 2017, it is worth noting that Benin submitted overdue initial reports under ICCPR, CEDAW and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Burkina Faso submitted reports to the UPR, CAT and the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Central African Republic developed and submitted its initial report to the ICESCR. The Interministerial Committee on Reporting in Chad drafted several periodic reports, including under CAT, CRC and ICCPR. Guinea submitted the reports on the Optional Protocols to the CRC on the involvement of children in armed conflict and on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography, as well as under ICCPR, with support provided to the Interministerial Committee on Human Rights. Through a participatory process, Mali drafted, validated and submitted its UPR report. In January, Mauritania submitted second periodic reports to CAT, the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In addition, Advocating for the rights of indigenous environmental defenders in Honduras The Special Rapporteur on the rights of indigenous peoples has paid particular attention to the investigation into the killing, in March 2016, of the indigenous environmental defender, Berta Cáceres; most likely killed due to her opposition to the Agua Zarca dam in Honduras. The Special Rapporteur met with Berta Cáceres during a country visit to Honduras in November 2015. Following the killing of Ms. Cáceres, other indigenous defenders were also attacked and another indigenous defender was killed. The Special Rapporteur worked with other special procedures mandateholders to send a series of communications on the case both to the Government and to financial investors 10 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2017 supporting the dam project. She also highlighted the case in several of her reports and speeches to the Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. Since then, several financial investors have suspended their funding for the dam project. After a year-long probe, an investigative panel, known as the International Advisory Group of Experts, in November 2017, concluded that Honduran State agents and senior executives of the hydroelectric company, Desarrollos Energéticos, colluded in the planning, execution and cover-up of the assassination of Berta Cáceres. The final report made numerous references to the Special Rapporteur’s report on her country visit to Honduras.