UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD women, including sexual violence, as a form of discrimination. To support civil society advocacy in addressing this omission, OHCHR translated and promoted CEDAW General Recommendation No. 35 (2017) on gender-based violence against women. This contributed to civil society raising the issue with CEDAW and CRPD, which considered the report of the Republic of North Macedonia in 2018. As a result, CEDAW issued a specific recommendation (12(b), 2018) that the Law should recognize all forms of gender-based violence against women. The Parliament adopted the law in March 2019 but failed to follow up on this recommendation. To improve its effectiveness in addressing discrimination, the Government established a national coordination body on non-discrimination, in April. At the request of the Government, OHCHR provided technical advice to the Body which has since adopted a Programme of Action 2018-2020 and identified the legislation that will need to be aligned with the new anti-discrimination Law. Under the aegis of the Free & Equal campaign, and in partnership with the Association of Journalists and UNDP, 18 journalists from national and local media were trained in non-discriminatory reporting about LGBTI persons and a guide on reporting was developed for their use. UN HUMAN RIGHTS IN THE FIELD To promote in-depth understanding of the Convention and its implementation, OHCHR translated into the national language and disseminated the first six general comments by the Committee. As a result, the Government and civil society have increased their knowledge of CRPD. In April, the Government established a new coordination mechanism for implementation aligned with article 33.1 of CRPD - the “National Coordination Body for the Implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” (NKT CRPD). OHCHR provided training for its members to ensure their common understanding of the CRPD contents and use of analytical and operational tools to improve the effectiveness of the coordination work. The NKT CRPD has since led the State delegation for the Committee’s consideration of the initial State Party report in September; disseminated the CRPD recommendations and prepared a plan for their implementation, as well as launched a sign language version of the Convention, on 3 December, with support from the UNCT. CEDAW recommended a set of concrete measures to be undertaken by the State that would fully reflect the concerns raised by civil society. Civil society organizations have already begun using the recommendations as an entry point for making a stronger case with relevant authorities and the general public to combat this harmful practice. Development (D) D4 – The national strategy on sexual and reproductive health ensures that services, including modern contraception and pregnancy termination, are provided without discrimination, especially to marginalized women and girls. The Office contributed to advancing sexual and reproductive health and rights by conducting specialized training and guidance on engagement with the international human rights mechanisms for public health officials and providing technical assistance to organizations working on sexual and reproductive health. ND1 – National mechanisms for the implementation and monitoring of CRPD are in place, are compliant with the standards and have sufficient capacities for effective functioning. The level of engagement of the UNCT and civil society partners in combating child marriage as a human rights violation and a harmful practice increased as a result of awareness-raising that was based on recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms. In November 2018, OHCHR supported UNFPA and its national civil society partner, HERA - Health Education and Research Association, to conduct the first training for 18 public health officials (16 women and 2 men), on reporting and follow-up to the recommendations issued by the international human rights mechanisms. The training clarified the right to health and the role of public health officials in State’s interactions with the human rights mechanisms as well as the ways in which they can contribute to the realization of human rights. OHCHR contributed to raising the awareness and the capacities of government officials of the obligations under CRPD and supported them to engage with the Committee for the consideration of the State’s initial report in September 2018. In 2018, civil society and the UNCT focused their efforts on using the occasion of CEDAW’s review of North Macedonia’s sixth periodic report, in November, to raise the long-neglected issue of child marriage. In its concluding observations, OHCHR’s engagement with civil society concentrated on technical advice and support for the organizations working on sexual and reproductive health and rights so they could bring the concerns of those most excluded to the attention of the 292 UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 Spotlights: ND4 – Increased public recognition of the need to combat child marriage as a harmful practice. Youth international human rights mechanisms. This strategy was particularly timely as two treaty bodies, namely CEDAW and CRPD, were preparing to consider the reports of the State. With OHCHR’s guidance, several civil society organizations reached out to women farmers and Roma women living in sub-standard settlements to facilitate their participation in the civil society organizations’ oral presentation in front of the CEDAW Committee in November in Geneva. RUSSIAN FEDERATION Population size1 Surface area1 Human Development Index2 NHRI (if applicable)3 143.96 million 17,098,000 km² 0.816 (rank: 49/188 in 2016) Status A, 2014 Type of engagement Human rights staff (Other type of field presence) Year established 2008 Field office(s) Moscow UN partnership framework n/a Staff as of 31 December 2018 5 XB requirements 2018 US$949,100 Key OMP pillars in 2018 123 Please refer to Data sources and notes on p.191. KEY PILLAR RESULTS: Participation (P) P3 – The Russian Federation and selected countries in the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) expand and strengthen their human rights higher education programmes. and enhance the future sustainability of the Programme. To further consolidate the curricula of the Master’s Programme, the Consortium began developing, with OHCHR advice, two new textbooks on economic, social and cultural rights and the rights of the child. The Office contributed to strengthening the narrative on human rights by raising awareness about and integrating human rights into university curricula across the Russian Federation and CIS countries. The 2018 Summer School on Human Rights, hosted by the Consortium, brought together more than 200 university students from 17 universities in four CIS countries. The focus of the week-long programme was the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), its legacy and emerging challenges. The Summer School offered an intensive interdisciplinary learning programme aimed at expanding the students’ knowledge about the scope and content of the UDHR and the UN human rights system. Building on progress made during the previous OHCHR Management Plan 2014-2017, the Human Rights Master’s Programme Consortium in the Russian Federation was institutionalized in 2018 as a legal entity called the “Research Institute for Problems of Globalization and Human Rights.” The aim of this institutionalization was to strengthen strategic planning Shifts: Civic Space Inequalities UN HUMAN RIGHTS REPORT 2018 293