A/HRC/15/38 occasions to meet with various special procedure mandate holders, Government representatives and other key actors. 52. Further to a proposal made by the High Commissioner, the Human Rights Council has, since 2009, considered the various reports on the promotion and protection of the human rights of indigenous peoples at the same session. This has facilitated participation of indigenous peoples, and at the twelfth regular session of the Human Rights Council in September 2009, some ten indigenous organizations had the opportunity to make joint statements. At the fifteenth session in September 2010, the Council will again consider at the same session the reports by the Expert Mechanism and the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights and fundamental freedoms of indigenous people, as well as that of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. 53. Indigenous peoples have also participated in the universal periodic review, established by General Assembly resolution 60/251. In some cases, they have contributed to the report submitted by their Government and many of them have presented written submissions containing information on the human rights situation in the States under review, which can be included in the summary of stakeholders’ contributions prepared by OHCHR. 54. At the sessions of the Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review, NGOs with Economic and Social Council consultative status can be observers but not play a role in the interactive dialogue. They can, however, host information sessions and parallel events. At the sessions where the Human Rights Council reviews the recommendations adopted at the Working Group on Universal Periodic Review, indigenous organizations have taken advantage of the possibility to take the floor and address the Council with brief general comments, often through joint statements. 55. As regards practical implications of the proposed expansion of the Fund to cover the sessions of the Human Rights Council, grouping reports pertaining to indigenous peoples at one session would be likely to facilitate the processing of related applications. Furthermore, as the universal periodic review calendar is settled well in advance, the Board of Trustees and potential applicants would know which countries are up for review under the process and at what session, facilitating early submission and consideration of applications. At the same time, it should be noted that, aside from reports devoted to indigenous peoples and the universal periodic review, many other issues addressed by the Human Rights Council are also of interest to indigenous peoples and could benefit from their input; informal meetings in the contents of the sessions are often of great importance in advancing dialogue on the rights of indigenous peoples. 56. If the mandate is expanded to cover the Human Rights Council, the Board of Trustees would need to revisit the current selection criteria, notably in light of the fact that only organizations with Economic and Social Council consultative status can participate in the sessions of the Human Rights Council. An increasing number of indigenous organizations have applied for authorization by the Committee on Non-Governmental Organizations to attend international meetings related to indigenous issues and the number of indigenous organizations with full consultative status has also increased. At the same time, it is clear that the number of potential applicants to attend sessions of the Council would be significantly lower than the number of applications submitted annually to attend sessions of the Expert Mechanism and those of the Permanent Forum, and that the allocation of funding to support participation in the sessions of the Council would probably be relatively low in comparison to support allocated to participation in the annual sessions Expert Mechanism and the Permanent Forum. 12