Chapter 2 • The Major Universal Human Rights Instruments and the Mechanisms for Their Implementation monitoring organ and the State party concerned for the purpose of assisting the latter in introducing the adjustments to domestic law and practice required by its international treaty obligations. These reports are examined and discussed in public and in the presence of representatives of the State party. While the aim of this dialogue is of course to arrive at a general amelioration of the human rights situation obtaining in the country concerned, there is no possibility for individual relief in case of violations. There is also an ever-growing tendency for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to be involved in the work of the various committees. These organizations are important sources of information regarding the human rights situation in the countries under examination, and they often have specialized knowledge of the legal issues dealt with in the committees. They can therefore make useful indirect contributions to the discussions. In preparing their periodic reports to the various international monitoring organs, the States parties are obliged to provide in-depth information not only about the formal state of the law within their jurisdiction, but also about the manner of its practical application. When preparing these reports, the States parties may well also need the assistance of members of the various legal professions.1 As to the quasi-judicial and strictly judicial procedures, these are only set in motion by a complaint (communication, petition) filed by an individual or, under some treaties, a group of individuals, or even States parties. Their specific aim is to remedy possible human rights violations in the particular case brought before the tribunals or committees with the ultimate aim, where need be, of inducing States to modify their law so as to bring it into conformity with their international legal obligations. Numerous changes in domestic law have now taken place in many countries as a result of international legal procedures, be they universal or regional. However, it is essential to stress that international procedures can never be considered to be a substitute for efficient legal procedures at the domestic level. Human rights are made a true reality at the domestic level by the domestic authorities, and, as emphasized in Chapter 1, the international complaints procedures are subsidiary to the available domestic systems for safeguarding the individual: they provide a remedy of last resort, when the internal mechanisms for ensuring an efficient protection of human rights standards have failed. The international treaty-based control mechanisms in the human rights field consist of reporting procedures and the adjudication of individual or inter-State complaints. International procedures for the protection of human rights and freedoms are subsidiary to existing procedures in the national legal system of every State. International procedures can never be considered to be a substitute for efficient domestic legal procedures for the protection of human rights. 1 As to how to draft these reports, see Manual on Human Rights Reporting, published by the United Nations, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR) and the United Nations Centre for Human Rights, 464 pp. (hereinafter referred to as Manual on Human Rights Reporting). Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 29