A/HRC/10/31 page 5 10. It should be recalled that the reform of the Commission on Human Rights was initiated against the background of politicization and polarization that had led to its de facto paralysis. Since its inception in June 2006, the Council has witnessed a re-surfacing of confrontational terms, in particular when addressing country-specific issues. This is regrettable. I urge all actors, both governmental and non-governmental, to continue to uphold the spirit of the reform and dialogue. In this respect, I wish to emphasize that the special sessions convened by the Council to respond to serious and urgent situations serve for the most part as very good examples, not only of the responsiveness of the intergovernmental body to emergencies, but most importantly, of the potential of a united Council to reach results-oriented outcomes and to put into practice its protection mandate. 11. It is of crucial importance that the Council is equipped with all appropriate and necessary tools and mechanisms to deal with urgent and chronic human rights country or thematic situations. In this regard, I believe it would be of use to analyse in the context of the 2011 review of the Council other formats that could be used to serve this purpose. For example, in addition to the special sessions framework, special briefings or events could be organized to deal with, for instance, the impact of the current global economic crisis on the protection of human rights. Similarly, the consideration of country or regional situations would be facilitated by a broadening of the possible outcomes of special sessions. Declarations, President’s statements or press statements may be envisaged as possible outcomes of any special session, meeting, briefing or event. C. Special procedures 12. I wish to emphasize the effective work performed by the special procedures as the Council’s fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms with the ability to engage on thematic or country-specific issues consistently over a longer period of time. I encourage the Council to continue to engage actively with Member States and the special procedures in relation to the implementation of their recommendations. 13. In 2008, my Office assumed major responsibilities as a result of the outcomes of the review, rationalization and improvement of mandates and the appointment of 27 new mandateholders. While a number of country mandates have been discontinued by the Council over the past year, all thematic mandates have been renewed, and a new mandate was created on access to safe drinking water and sanitation. In addition, in 2008, a new mandate-holder was appointed for the mandate on contemporary forms of slavery, created in September 2007. The review of mandates has also expanded the activities or scope, or the reporting requirements, of a number of special procedures. 14. My Office continues to provide substantive support to individual mandate-holders. Dedicated support has also been provided to the system of the special procedures as a whole, as represented by the Coordination Committee. The Committee has been supported in its continuing efforts to harmonize the working methods of the system. I am pleased to note that, in the President’s statement adopted on 18 June 2008 (PRST/8/2), the Council acknowledged the role of the Committee. We have successfully ensured a smooth transition between outgoing and new