A/HRC/23/28 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 20/14, in which the Council requested the Secretary-General to report to the Council at its twentythird session on the activities of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in accrediting national institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles. 2. The report includes activities and achievements since the report issued in 2012 on the accreditation of national human rights institutions (A/HRC/20/10), and should be read together with the report of the Secretary-General on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (A/HRC/23/27), which includes, inter alia, information on activities of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) to establish and strengthen these institutions; measures taken by Governments regarding these institutions; as well as information on the cooperation of national human rights institutions with the international human rights system. 3. The Statute of the International Coordinating Committee mandates the Subcommittee on Accreditation to review and analyse the applications for accreditation submitted by national human rights institutions and to make recommendations to the Bureau of the International Coordinating Committee on the compliance of applicants with the Paris Principles. The Subcommittee comprises one representative of an “A” status national human rights institution from each of the four regional groupings of the International Coordinating Committee: Africa, the Americas, Asia-Pacific and Europe. The members of the Subcommittee are appointed by each regional grouping for a renewable term of three years. The members designate, by consensus, for a renewable term of one year, the Chairperson from among themselves. OHCHR is a permanent observer of the Subcommittee and serves as its secretariat. 4. In 2012, the Subcommittee members were from Canada, France, Qatar and Togo. The Chairperson of the Subcommittee was the representative of the national human rights institution of Qatar. II. Improvement of the International Coordinating Committee accreditation process 5. According to article 7 of the statute of the International Coordinating Committee, one of the functions of the Committee is to promote the establishment and strengthening of national human rights institutions in conformity with the Paris Principles. Moreover, according to the Strategic Plan of the International Coordinating Committee for the period 2010–2013, its first objective is to maintain and strengthen the accreditation process by tailoring and contextualizing the recommendations made by the Subcommittee for the specific needs of national human rights institutions and by improving their access, and that of regional networks and civil society, to the Subcommittee. 6. The International Coordinating Committee has introduced a number of measures to improve its accreditation procedures: (a) Aimed at assessing the effectiveness and the performance of national human rights institutions, the review has become more rigorous, as it is based on documented evidence provided by the institution under review, as well as on information received from civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The review has also become fairer, since 3