A/RES/59/196 8. Further welcomes the progress achieved in the establishment of regional and subregional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, and, in this regard, notes with interest: (a) The positive experience of the regional and subregional presence of the Office of the High Commissioner in southern, central and eastern Africa aimed at strengthening national and subregional human rights capacities; (b) The support provided by the Office of the High Commissioner to the African Union for the strengthening of its human rights system, and welcomes in this regard the entry into force of the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights; (c) The increased, valuable sharing of concrete national experiences at the eleventh and twelfth Workshops on Regional Cooperation for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in the Asian and Pacific Region, held in Islamabad from 25 to 27 February 2003 and in Doha from 2 to 4 March 2004, respectively, regarding the implementation of the Framework of Regional Technical Cooperation for the Asia-Pacific Region, which contributes to the enhancement of the promotion and protection of human rights in the region; (d) Activities undertaken within the framework of the regional project of the Office of the High Commissioner for the promotion and protection of human rights in the Latin American and Caribbean region and the strengthening of the cooperation between the Office of the High Commissioner, the Organization of American States and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights; (e) Activities undertaken within the framework of cooperation between the Office of the High Commissioner and the League of Arab States and the intention to develop a broader technical cooperation programme in cooperation with the League of Arab States following the recent adoption of the Arab Charter on Human Rights; (f) The continued cooperation between the Office of the High Commissioner and regional organizations in Europe and Central Asia, namely the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, the Council of Europe and the European Union, in particular for activities at the country level, as well as the agreements between the European Commission and the Office of the High Commissioner for financing technical cooperation projects; Invites States in areas in which regional arrangements in the field of 9. human rights do not yet exist to consider concluding agreements with a view to establishing, within their respective regions, suitable regional machinery for the promotion and protection of human rights; 10. Requests the Secretary-General, as foreseen in programme 19, Human rights, of the revised medium-term plan for the period 2002–2005, 5 to continue to strengthen exchanges between the United Nations and regional intergovernmental organizations dealing with human rights and to make available adequate resources from within the regular budget of technical cooperation to the activities of the Office of the High Commissioner to promote regional arrangements; _______________ 5 See Official Records of the General Assembly, Fifty-seventh Session, Supplement No. 6 and corrigendum (A/57/6/Rev.1 and Corr.1). 3