.........Chapter 3 THE MAJOR REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTRUMENTS AND THE MECHANISMS FOR THEIR IMPLEMENTATION................ Learning Objectives l l To familiarize participants with the major regional human rights instruments and their different modes of implementation; To provide a basic understanding of how these legal resources can be used by legal practitioners, principally at the domestic level but also to some extent at the regional level, for the purpose of bringing complaints before the monitoring organs. Questions l l l l l l l l l Have you, in the exercise of your professional activities as judges, prosecutors or lawyers, ever been faced with an accused person, defendant, respondent or client alleging violations of his or her rights under regional human rights law? If so, how did you respond? Were you aware that regional law for the protection of human rights could provide guidance for solving the problem concerned? Were you aware that the alleged victim might ultimately bring his or her grievances to the attention of the regional commissions or courts? If not, would such an awareness have changed your manner of responding to the alleged violations of his or her human rights? Have you ever brought a case against your country, or some other country, before a regional organ on behalf of an alleged victim of a human rights violation? If so, what was the outcome of the case? What was your experience generally of making such a complaint? Have you any experience of both the universal and regional systems? If so, what differences did you perceive? Human Rights in the Administration of Justice: A Manual on Human Rights for Judges, Prosecutors and Lawyers 71