A/HRC/27/40 I. Introduction 1. The present report is submitted pursuant to paragraph 29 of Human Rights Council resolution 23/17, in which the Council requested the Secretary-General to report to the Human Rights Council at its twenty-seventh session on the activities of the International Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions for the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights in accrediting national institutions in accordance with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles). 2. The report includes activities and achievements since the report issued in 2013 on the accreditation of national human rights institutions (A/HRC/23/28). 3. The statute of the International Coordinating Committee mandates the Subcommittee on Accreditation to review and analyse the applications for accreditation submitted by national human rights institutions and to make recommendations to the Bureau of the International Coordinating Committee on the compliance of applicants with the Paris Principles. The Subcommittee comprises one representative of an “A” status national human rights institution from each of the four regional groupings of the International Coordinating Committee: Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific and Europe. The members of the Subcommittee are appointed by each regional grouping for a renewable term of three years. The members designate the Chair by consensus, from among themselves, for a renewable term of one year. In accordance with article 6 of the statute of the International Coordinating Committee, meetings of the Subcommittee on Accreditation shall be held under the auspices of, and in cooperation with, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 4. During the period covered by the report, the Subcommittee members were from Canada, France, Mauritania and Qatar. The Chair of the Subcommittee was the chair of the national human rights institution of Qatar. In May 2013, a representative of the national human rights institution of Germany substituted for a representative of the national human rights institution of France, since the latter institution was under consideration for reaccreditation during the Subcommittee session. II. Improvement of the International Coordinating Committee accreditation process 5. The International Coordinating Committee has introduced various measures to improve its accreditation procedures: (a) The review of national human rights institutions, which is aimed at assessing their effectiveness and performance, has become more rigorous, as it is based on documented evidence provided by the institution under review, as well as on information received from civil society organizations and other stakeholders. The review has also become fairer, since an appeals procedure was included to give institutions an opportunity to challenge the recommendations issued by the Subcommittee on Accreditation; (b) The Subcommittee on Accreditation issues a number of focused and tailored recommendations to the national human rights institution under review, even when it recommends an “A” status; (c) Recommendations by the Subcommittee on Accreditation, once adopted by the Committee Bureau, are made public in the report of the Subcommittee, which is posted on the International Coordinating Committee website (nhri.ohchr.org). 3