A/HRC/4/93 page 4 Entry-level recruitment through the system of competitive examinations 17. In an effort to widen the pool of qualified candidates, OHCHR will continue to work with the Office of Human Resources Management (OHRM) to organize specialized periodic competitive human rights examinations and to conduct recruitment campaigns. Successful candidates from underrepresented countries will be carefully considered. OHCHR is counting on the cooperation of Member States in encouraging wide participation of their nationals in the national competitive recruitment examinations (NCRE) exercise to help ensure the widest possible pool of qualified candidates from unrepresented and underrepresented countries. In order to achieve as wide participation as possible in NCREs, OHCHR is prepared to commit resources of its own to complement OHRM efforts to attract candidates from unrepresented and underrepresented countries. 18. Careful consideration will also be given to geographical balance among associate experts, whose employment has been the subject of scrutiny by Member States. Every effort will be made to encourage Member States sponsoring associate experts to extend their national programmes to nationals from developing countries, which is already being done by a number of Governments. Although the United Nations Secretariat does not have a mechanism for recruiting associate experts upon completion of their service, priority will be given to associate experts from unrepresented and underrepresented countries who might be invited to take part in future NCREs. 19. To date, the impact of the NCREs on OHCHR’s geographical balance has proven somewhat disappointing. The second human rights national competitive exam was offered in 2005. Out of 69 countries invited to take part in the exam, only 57 did so. Of these 57 countries, only 10 countries, of which 3 were developing countries, had nationals who reached the interview stage after completion of the written examination administered and corrected by the Office of Human Resources Management. 20. This situation is symptomatic of the difficulties faced by OHCHR in recruiting on a wide geographical basis. Introducing in-house policies to select staff from unrepresented and underrepresented countries 21. Expanding the pool of potential candidates alone cannot be expected to yield results unless their expressions of interest and applications are matched with OHCHR openings. To this end, the High Commissioner released both internal procedures and a framework for improving geographic diversity. This included a mechanism to review the recruitment process for each vacancy prior to final selection, to ensure that every effort has been made to identify and select qualified candidates from regions requiring improvement, in full consideration of and adherence to the staff regulations and rules. It is important to understand that the goal of this exercise is to maximize the number of additional qualified candidates from desirable geographic regions, not to exclude candidates from other regions, in order to have the broadest possible pool of recommended candidates for every post.