A/HRC/23/27 documentation, participating in general debates and under specific agenda items, organizing parallel events and interacting with the special procedures. A total of 30 institutions participated in the sessions of the Council sessions (see annex I), a significant increase over the 21 institutions that participated in 2011. 78. At the nineteenth session of the Human Rights Council, a new cost-effective practice was introduced: three video statements were delivered by national human rights institutions following the presentation of reports by special procedures mandate holders. Two video statements were made at the twentieth session and eight at the twenty-first. 1. Universal periodic review 79. The second cycle of the universal periodic review started with the thirteenth session of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, held in May and June 2102. A separate section in the stakeholders’ report was included to reflect contributions by A-status national human rights institutions. 80. In 2012, there was a 40 per cent increase over the same period in the first cycle in the number of written contributions from A-status national human rights institutions for the stakeholders’ report submitted for the universal periodic review. A total of 17 A-status and two B-status institutions submitted such contributions. 81. In 2012, eight A-status national human rights institutions delivered a statement immediately after the State under review with regard to the adoption of the outcome at a plenary meeting of the Human Rights Council. 2. Special procedures 82. During the general debates at the sessions of the Human Rights Council, a number of national human rights institutions interacted with special procedures mechanisms and submitted written contributions on reports written by them. 83. OHCHR regularly provides special procedures mandate holders with information on the work of national human rights institutions in the preparation of their country missions. Increasingly, mandate holders seek the assistance of such institutions in ensuring that their recommendations are implemented at the national level. 84. In her report submitted to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-second session, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders focused on the role of national human rights institutions as human rights defenders (A/HRC/22/47). 85. During the period under review, a representative of the South African Human Rights Commission participated as a panellist in a discussion on engagement with special procedures mechanisms organized on the occasion of Human Rights Day at the University of Pretoria, in South Africa. 86. OHCHR supported special procedures mandate holders in issuing communications relating to national human rights institutions under threat, focusing on the former chairpersons Human Rights Commissions of Malawi and Togo. 87. OHCHR supported the national human rights institution of Mauritania in conducting a workshop on the development of a road map to implement the recommendations of the Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. 13