A/HRC/11/3 page 6 to a public position in their own country. This has reinforced the independent nature of the Commission. Similarly, the members of the FRA management board act independently of their countries. 12. Adequate resourcing of regional commissions is crucial for independence. It was observed that where mechanisms obtain a large proportion of their funds in the form of voluntary contributions from member States, this may obscure the focus of the commission by resulting in a tendency to address the particular concerns of the State involved. Moreover, without adequate resources commissions cannot be as effective as originally intended, due to lack of sufficient staff and facilities. 13. The manner in which the powers of the human rights mechanisms are carried out is also a means of reinforcing institutional independence from member States. For example, the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner can visit member States at their request or on his own initiative. FRA seeks information from member States of the European Union and secondary sources but also undertakes its own research to gather information that is as independent as possible. As the reports of FRA are comparative at the European level, they are not subject to review and comment by member States. 14. Independence does not need to be an obstacle to cooperation and coordination between bodies. The Council of Europe is represented on the FRA management board, so as to facilitate greater cooperation. The Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner sends his reports to the relevant member State before publication but this does not entail that the member State has a droit de regard over the final conclusions and recommendations. Reports of the Inter-American Commission are provided to member States for comments and both the OAS Permanent Council and the General Assembly discuss pertinent issues with the Commission. Member States are welcome to participate in public hearings on cases as well as on thematic issues and to defend accusations made against them. D. Data collection 15. FRA was created in 2007 to provide institutions and member States with advice and expertise in implementing human rights standards in each country. FRA monitors the implementation of the legislation of member States to see whether national legislation upholds the human rights obligations of the country in accordance with the European Union system. It uses scientific data-collection techniques which enable it to develop representative samples and assess multiple fields of discrimination against rights-holders with certain characteristics. Requests for specific data collection come from the European Commission, the European Council and the European Parliament. 16. The importance of maintaining a comprehensive picture of the human rights situation in each member State was emphasized in the experience of the Council of Europe Human Rights Commissioner. When this post was created, the Office undertook an assessment of the human rights implementation by all member States. Since then, some follow-up missions have been conducted to obtain up-to-date information. Priority issues in each member State are identified on the basis of these assessments and included in memoranda to the State party, to advise them of their human rights obligations.