A/HRC/32/26 44. One delegate said that it was not necessary for the experts to have an indigenous background as long as they had the required expertise, while one participant spoke of the importance of having experts of indigenous origin and of achieving a balance in terms of gender. Several State representatives also mentioned the importance of having equitable geographical representation among the experts. One participant said that the qualifications of the experts should be set out in the mandate. 45. Several State representatives said that the qualifications and competence of the experts were more important than their number. Two delegates supported the idea of having seven members, one from each of the seven indigenous sociocultural regions of the world, to give broad representation to the world’s indigenous peoples,2 while one delegate hesitated to expand the current number of members. One delegate expressed satisfaction with the current number of members while one participant suggested increasing the number of experts taking into account the number of indigenous peoples in each region. 46. Two participants called for a more transparent process for nominating and selecting experts, while another participant suggested that members of the Expert Mechanism should be nominated by both States and indigenous peoples. 47. Several participants said that the experts should determine their own methods of work, making sure that they are in line with any changes made to the mandate. One participant stressed that the Expert Mechanism should not adopt a method of work that was similar to a complaints procedure. It was suggested that the sessions of the Expert Mechanism could include both public and private meetings, and a member of the Expert Mechanism suggested that the private meetings could focus on dialogue with States. 3 One participant advocated keeping the open meetings, as they provided indigenous peoples and States with the opportunity to interact directly. 48. One participant said that the number of working days should be based on the workload and eventual mandate of the Expert Mechanism. One delegate found the current number of working days sufficient, while another delegate called for the issue to be revisited. One participant said that closer interaction between the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur would entail more working days. Another participant mentioned the possibility of having three annual working weeks with one week for the public session, one for closed meetings and one for intersessional meetings. 49. The use of information and communications technologies was also mentioned. Several participants highlighted the importance of webcasting the annual session of the Expert Mechanism to make it more accessible to indigenous peoples who were not able to attend the session, while one participant said that some indigenous peoples still did not have access to the Internet. Videoconferencing was mentioned as a way for members of the Expert Mechanism to maintain intersessional communication. 4 One participant said that face-to-face meetings were better when preparing studies while another participant encouraged making better use of the OHCHR website and the country overviews available there. 2 3 4 The members of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues that are nominated by indigenous organizations are appointed by the President of the Economic and Social Council and represent seven sociocultural regions determined to give broad representation to the world’s indigenous peoples. The regions are: Africa; Asia; Central and South America and the Caribbean; the Arctic; Central and Eastern Europe, the Russian Federation, Central Asia and Transcaucasia; North America; and the Pacific. One additional seat rotates among the first three regions listed above. The current practice is for the Expert Mechanism to have one or two half-day closed meetings during their annual session in order to finalize its reports and proposals to the Human Rights Council. Currently, the members of the Expert Mechanism hold monthly videoconferences. 9