A/HRC/4/103 page 3 7. OHCHR relies on forensic experts from Member States and NGOs contracted on the basis of the cooperation service agreement (E/CN.4/1998/32, annex II) to carry out fact-finding and forensic assessment missions or training and capacity-building activities. In this context, OHCHR is exploring the option of developing a standby roster of forensic experts that would allow the Office to dispatch such experts at short notice. 8. Efforts to build up a roster of experts, including on forensics, are being made in the context of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The Optional Protocol provides the mandate for the Subcommittee on Prevention to carry out regular in-country inspections of places of detention in collaboration with a visiting body at national level. Under article 13 (3) of the Optional Protocol, the members of the Subcommittee may be accompanied, if needed, by experts of demonstrated professional experience and knowledge in the fields covered by the Optional Protocol. These experts shall be selected from a roster prepared on the basis of proposals made by the States parties, OHCHR and the United Nations Centre for International Crime Prevention, now part of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In preparing the roster, the States parties concerned may propose up to five national experts. III. CONSOLIDATION AND DISSEMINATION OF STANDARDS 9. OHCHR continued to disseminate the Principles on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions (Economic and Social Council resolution 1989/65) and the Principles on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (General Assembly resolution 55/89, annex). A revised version of the Istanbul Protocol: Manual on the Effective Investigation and Documentation of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (HR/P/PT/8/Rev.1) was published by the Office in July 2004 and is available in all United Nations official languages. In addition to commercial sales, 5,532 copies of the revised Manual were provided to prosecutors, criminal investigators, forensic specialists, professional organizations, NGOs and United Nations agencies between July 2004 and December 2006. 10. Owing to resource constraints, OHCHR has not been in a position to engage in a broad consultative process with specialized organizations and expert bodies on proposals for a revision of the Manual on the Effective Prevention and Investigation of Extra-legal, Arbitrary and Summary Executions, published in 1991 by the Centre for International Crime Prevention in Vienna.1 Such a process is needed to ensure that the Manual will contribute to the further 1 United Nations publication, Sales No. E.91.IV.1. All substantive parts of the Manual, including the Model Autopsy Protocol and the Model Protocol for Disinterment and Analysis of Skeletal Remains, were reprinted by the United Nations Office of Legal Affairs in Guidelines for the Conduct of United Nations Inquiries into Allegations of Massacres, United Nations publication, Sales No. E.97.I.21, 1997.

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