A/HRC/13/44 43. OHCHR held a meeting with the Ombudsperson of Kosovo to provide advice on staff capacity-building and the redrafting of its enabling legislation as well as to share the requirements for International Coordinating Committee accreditation. 5. Middle East and North Africa 44. In December 2008, the Parliament of Iraq approved a law establishing the High Commission for Human Rights of Iraq. This was the outcome of a process started in 2006. OHCHR, in cooperation with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq, has supported efforts to set up the institution, including through the selection process of commissioners. B. 1. Support of the Office for regional initiatives The Americas and the Caribbean 45. In October 2008, the NHRI of Venezuela was elected as the new secretariat of the Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of the Americas. OHCHR has been working closely with the secretariat with a view to strengthening its capacity and the role it plays within the region and in relation to the international human rights system. 46. OHCHR, together with the secretariat of the Network of Rights and Democracy organized a workshop for the NHRIs of the Americas on the universal periodic review and the international human rights system, held on 26 and 27 March 2009. The workshop was attended by NHRI representatives from Canada, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru. It was aimed at sharing best practices of NHRI interaction with the international human rights system and was an opportunity for the institutions to learn more about their involvement in the universal periodic review process and treaty bodies, and their collaboration with special procedures mandate holders. 47. OHCHR provided technical and financial support to the eighth General Assembly of the Network of National Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights of the Americas that took place in Madrid on 29 October 2009. The meeting brought together the presidents of 12 NHRIs. The work programme of the Network for 2008–2010, which focuses on economic, social and cultural rights; women’s rights; and displaced persons, was discussed. Cooperation with OHCHR was also highlighted. 2. Africa 48. The OHCHR Regional Office for West Africa attended a workshop for Central and Western Africa, held in Lomé on 19 and 20 January 2009. The workshop highlighted legal and institutional weaknesses common to the majority of NHRIs from the two subregions and discussed ways to strengthen those institutions to comply with the Paris Principles, including through OHCHR assistance. 49. The OHCHR Regional Office for West Africa is engaged in a process of developing the subregional network of NHRIs. Although formally created in 2006 in Banjul, the Gambia, the network is not yet operational. From 12 to 14 February 2009, OHCHR participated in a meeting organized by the Economic Community of West African States in Cotonou, Benin, and assisted in drafting the statute of the network. The statute was adopted in Banjul in October 2009, which resulted in the establishment of the network and the designation of its governing bodies. 50. In September 2009, OHCHR participated in a training organized by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Nairobi for new human rights commissioners in East Africa, including those from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda and the United Republic of 8 GE.10-10269