A/HRC/28/41 recognition, justice and development”. 20 The programme includes the establishment of a forum for persons of African descent and the drafting of a United Nations declaration on the promotion and full respect of the human rights of people of African descent. The International Decade was officially launched at Headquarters on 10 December. 28. A number of mandate holders followed closely the debate over the post-2015 development agenda and draft documents on the sustainable development goals, advocating for a stand-alone goal on equality and women’s empowerment and the mainstreaming of a gender perspective into all other goals. 29. Mandate holders also continued to integrate a gender perspective and promote the human rights of women in their work. III. Activities of the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures 30. In 2013 and 2014, the Coordination Committee of Special Procedures continued to assist coordination among mandate holders and to facilitate interaction and dialogue with a range a bodies and stakeholders. It prioritized engagement with the Council and the participation of mandate holders in the Council’s work. The Committee and its Chairperson met regularly with stakeholders, including the Secretary-General, the High Commisioner, the President of the Council, and representatives of Member States and civil society. The Committee advised on the appointment of new mandate holders, in particular the need for the voice of special procedures to be heard in this process and for expertise and skills to be main selection criteria, and engaged with the Consultative Group in this context. It also worked on other issues, including the coordination of joint activities and statements on country-specific and thematic issues; country-specific issues; the role of special procedures in mainstreaming human rights; the facilitation of dialogue and cooperation between States and special procedures; and reprisals against those who cooperate with the United Nations in the field of human rights, and attacks against mandate holders, in particular at the sessions of the Council and in relation to country visits. In addition, it continued to give guidance on issues relating to the independence of special procedures, working methods and the code of conduct, in accordance with the internal advisory procedure. The Committee maintained regular contact with civil society. 31. The Committee’s activities included, inter alia, delivering statements on behalf of all mandate holders at the special sessions of the Council, including during the sessions on the Central African Republic, the occupied Palestinian territories and Iraq. 32. The Committee also coordinated on behalf of all mandate holders the issuance of an open letter on 21 January 2014 on the situation in the Syrian Arab Republic; on 21 February, a joint statement on the situation in Ukraine; on 17 October, a letter on climate change; and, on 10 December, a statement on the occasion of Human Rights Day on climate change and human rights (see annex VII). 33. The Committee continued to nurture its partnership with regional mechanisms, including during a Wilton Park conference held in January 2014 on the theme “Addressing implementation gaps: improving cooperation between global and regional human rights mechanisms”. A group of mandate holders attended the fifty-fifth ordinary session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (28 April - 12 May 2014), in Luanda, 20 8 See General Assembly resolution 69/16.