2. the national human rights institution mandate campaign for the ratification of specific treaties, this is something that could be done in collaboration with civil society organizations, for example by holding joint meetings or hearings to discuss such matters before presenting the results to government and/or parliament. 5. When providing input to international examinations, especially of the more general kind such as the examination before the United Nations Human Rights Council (the Universal Periodic Review) and the examination by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, a NHRI could highlight lack of ratification, reservations and declarations not yet made. 6. As part of its research mandate, the NHRI could do research into the consequences of ratification, in particular the extent to which the relevant country already adheres to the provisions of the said treaties and what further measures would need to be taken to ensure full compliance. In this connection, the NHRI could also obtain information on the ratification status for comparable countries. 7. There are several international documents advocating ratification of international human rights instruments, both addressed to specific countries as part of concluding observations from United Nations human rights committees and directed more generally, for example in statements from meetings of policy organs, such as the Summit of the African Union or the Organization of American States. In all its work, a NHRI should keep in mind that even if a treaty, including a human rights instrument, has only been signed and not ratified; it still entails some obligations for the country. According to Article 18 of the Vienna Convention on the Law on Treaties, a state that has signed a treaty is obliged to refrain from acts which would defeat the object and purpose of a the treaty. INTERNATIONAL REPORTING The Paris Principles set out that NHRIs should contribute to state reports to United Nations bodies and to regional institutions and, where necessary, express an opinion in this respect, however with due respect for their independence. In some countries there is lack of clarity on the exact role of NHRIs with respect to state reporting to the various United Nations human rights committees and regional mechanisms like the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The meaning of the relevant provision of the Paris Principles is to clarify that NHRIs have a role to play in the reporting process but only to the extent this does not conflict with their independence. In practice this means that a government cannot outsource its responsibility for state reporting to the NHRI but must itself carry the ultimate responsibility to draft such reports. As stressed in several concluding observations and clearly prescribed in the Paris Principles, a government should not draft the report alone 57