A/HRC/RES/20/14 Office of the High Commissioner, the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights, regional coordinating committees of national institutions and those national institutions in the promotion and protection of human rights, Noting with interest the twenty-fifth annual meeting of the International Coordinating Committee, held from 20 to 22 March 2012, Welcoming the strengthening in all regions of regional and cross-regional cooperation among national human rights institutions, and between national human rights institutions and other regional human rights forums, 1. Welcomes the most recent reports of the Secretary-General submitted to the Human Rights Council on national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights1 and 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 2. Reaffirms the importance of the establishment and strengthening of effective, independent and pluralistic national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights in accordance with the Paris Principles; 3. Recognizes the role of independent national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights in working together with Governments to ensure full respect for human rights at the national level, including by contributing to follow-up actions, as appropriate, to the recommendations resulting from the international human rights mechanisms; 4. Welcomes the increasingly important role of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights in supporting cooperation between their Governments and the United Nations in the promotion and protection of human rights; 5. Encourages Member States to establish effective, independent and pluralistic national institutions or, where they already exist, to strengthen them for the promotion and protection of all human rights and fundamental freedoms for all, as outlined in the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, and to do so in accordance with the Paris Principles; 6. Recognizes that, in accordance with the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action, it is the right of each State to choose the framework for national institutions that is best suited to its particular needs at the national level in order to promote human rights in accordance with international human rights standards; 7. Welcomes the growing number of Member States establishing or considering the establishment of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights in accordance with the Paris Principles, and welcomes in particular the growing number of States that have accepted recommendations to establish national human rights institutions through the universal periodic review and, where relevant, by treaty bodies and special procedures; 8. Also welcomes the growing number of national institutions seeking accreditation status through the International Coordinating Committee, and encourages national institutions, including ombudsman institutions, to seek accreditation status; 1 2 2 A/HRC/20/9. A/HRC/20/10.