A/HRC/20/9 of Persons with Disabilities and the Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on a communications procedure. (d) Subcommittee on Accreditation 66. OHCHR provided secretarial support to the meetings of the Subcommittee on Accreditation held in Geneva in May and October 20113 and March 2012. 2. International expert seminar on the relationship between NHRIs and Parliaments 67. On 22 and 23 February 2012, an international expert seminar on the relationship between NHRIs and Parliaments was held in Belgrade, organized by OHCHR, the International Coordinating Committee of NHRIs, the National Assembly of the Republic of Serbia and the Protector of Citizens of the Republic of Serbia, with the support of the United Nations country team. The seminar brought together representatives of NHRIs, Parliaments and scholars from all over the world to discuss ways to strengthen cooperation between NHRIs and Parliaments. The participants adopted a set of principles aimed at providing guidance on how to develop the cooperation between NHRIs and Parliaments called the Belgrade principles on the relationship between NHRIs and parliaments (see annex). III. Cooperation between United Nations human rights mechanisms and national human rights institutions A. Human Rights Council 68. NHRI cooperation with international and regional human rights mechanisms is a key requirement of the Paris Principles. Therefore, OHCHR, in coordination with the International Coordinating Committee and its Geneva representative, continued to support NHRI engagement with the Human Rights Council mechanisms, namely the universal periodic review and special procedures. In June 2011, the General Assembly, by its resolution 65/281, adopted the outcome of the review of the work and functioning of the Human Right Council, which includes provisions regarding the “A” status NHRI participation and interaction with the universal periodic review and special procedures. 69. In 2011, an average of 21 NHRIs participated in each of the Human Rights Council sessions. They were active before and during the sessions, presenting statements, submitting written documentation, participating in general debates, organizing parallel events and interacting with special procedures. 70. At the nineteenth session of the Human Rights Council, NHRIs from Georgia, South Africa and Timor-Leste made video statements following the presentation of the reports of the special procedures on enforced disappearances, the right to food, and arbitrary detention. This new practice is expected to be further applied in future sessions of the Council, on a case-by-case basis, upon request from interested NHRIs. 71. On 9 March 2011, in the margins of the sixteenth session of the Human Rights Council, OHCHR and the Advisory Council on Human Rights of Morocco organized, a 3 12 For further details please see report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the International Coordinating Committee in accrediting national institutions in compliance with the Paris Principles, A/HRC/20/10.

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