The United Nations Human Rights System 1 3. The Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council, comprising independent human rights experts with mandates to report and advise on human rights from a thematic (e.g., the human rights of internally-displaced persons or the right to food) or country-specific perspective. The system of Special Procedures is a central element of the United Nations human rights machinery and covers all human rights: civil, cultural, economic, political, and social. As of August 2017, there are 44 thematic and 12 country mandates. For further and updated information on the Special Procedures please visit: https://goo.gl/yS3qsD. These human rights mechanisms have different mandates, procedures and activities, which in turn shape the ways in which (i) States in their capacity as duty-bearers, (ii) individuals as the rightsholders, (iii) other national or international stakeholders (NHRIs, CSOs etc.), and (iv) the United Nations Country Teams (UNCT), engage with them. Some conduct country visits or inquiries to monitor specific human rights issues; others consider complaints by individuals who allege that their rights have been violated by a State; and almost all of them have an established reporting procedure for assessing the progress of States in meeting their human rights obligations (see Table, below). Independently of their functions, all three mechanisms generate recommendations to the States with the aim of contributing to short-term and long-term changes in legal and policy frameworks to improve human rights protection. SUMMARY: DIFFERENT FUNCTIONS OF HRMs Type Mandate Functions UPR Intergovernmental Human Rights Council • Reporting SPs Independent experts Human Rights Council • Visits • Individual complaints TBs Independent experts Human rights treaties • Reporting • Individual complaints • Inquiries • Visits (by 1 TB- SPT) ALL THREE MECHANISMS ISSUE RECOMMENDATIONS! See Section 1.3.2 for details on which Treaty Body performs which functions. 3