A/HRC/27/39 Institutions and Regional Mechanisms Section of OHCHR and the Geneva representative of the International Coordinating Committee liaised with national human rights institutions prior to each session to encourage them to provide written or oral information, and to attend the sessions. OHCHR also prepared briefings on institutions for the attention of treaty bodies, and disseminated relevant recommendations and concluding observations to the institutions concerned. 93. During the reporting period, human rights treaty bodies reviewed 202 States parties, 111 of which had national human rights institutions. Of the 111 institutions, more than 60 interacted with treaty bodies by submitting reports, briefing treaty bodies prior to the review or attending the sessions (see annex III). 94. Treaty bodies have been providing national human rights institutions with advice and tools to facilitate their effective engagement, including by issuing general comments, information notes and statements and inviting representatives of the institutions to their meetings. The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of the Child have adopted general comments on national human rights institutions. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has amended its rules of procedure to allow A-status institutions to address the Committee in plenary session. The Human Rights Committee, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities have included in their working methods a section on the participation of national human rights institutions in their activities. 95. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances is discussing a paper on its relationship with the NHRIs to enhance the opportunities for NHRIs to engage with and contribute to its work. The Committee has engaged with the International Coordinating Committee in the process. 96. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women held informal public meetings in July 2013 and February 2014 with the representatives of six national human rights institutions to gather information for its fifty-fifth and fifty-seventh sessions. 97. In September 2013, two NHRIs made interventions during the dialogue with State parties at the tenth Session of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and provided information on their national-level monitoring activities. 98. As of March 2014, a total of 36 NHRIs had been designated as national preventive mechanisms under the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Of those institutions, 17 had submitted annual reports to the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture. During the period covered in this report, the Subcommittee conducted an advisory visit to the NPM (NHRI) of Armenia and held meetings with the NHRIs of Gabon, Germany, New Zealand and Peru in the context of its country visits. C. Other meetings 99. Twenty national human rights institutions participated in the second United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, held in December 2013 in Geneva. The Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises was represented on one of the panels focusing on trends, best practices and challenges in the implementation of the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights and the United Nations “Protect, Respect and Remedy” Framework. 14