A/HRC/13/26 B. Special procedures 10. Strengthening international human rights mechanisms and supporting the development of international human rights law is one of the six priorities of OHCHR for the next biennium. The work undertaken by the special procedures, their dialogue with States, monitoring, public reporting, country visits, outreach, accessibility and direct interventions, including through the hundreds of communications they send each year, is critical to the promotion and protection of human rights worldwide. The support provided by many States to the special procedures is much appreciated, and in line with Council resolution 5/2, all should fully cooperate and assist special procedures in the performance of their tasks. Two standing invitations to special procedures were issued in 2009, making a total of 65 States which maintain such invitations. Informative responses to special procedures’ communications should also form part of enhanced cooperation with these mechanisms, as should constructive engagement in substantive discussions of their reports, facilitating the conduct of missions, and actively ensuring follow-up to recommendations and conclusions. States should also provide the space for special procedures to exercise their mandates in full independence and with the confidence that honest, constructive and even robust dialogue with States about matters of substance will not be couched in terms of misconduct. 11. A hallmark of the system has been the direct accessibility of special procedures to victims and witnesses, and their capacity to work closely with human rights defenders. During 2009, there have been several incidents, including killings of persons who had engaged with special procedures mandate holders. Free interaction between experts and all stakeholders, many of whom are civil society actors, is an important indicator of cooperation with international human rights mechanisms and States should ensure that all those who are in contact with special procedures are free from reprisal. 12. There is now a comprehensive system of special rapporteurs, representatives, independent experts and working groups covering all sets of rights and several country situations. In all there are 39 mandates — 31 thematic, including the new mandate in the field of cultural rights, and eight country mandates — with 55 mandate holders. During 2009, OHCHR facilitated the selection process for new mandate holders and their integration into the system through information sessions and briefings, as well as through supporting the Special Procedures Coordination Committee’s orientation sessions. The enhanced transparency of the selection process through the Consultative Group’s provision of more detailed public explanations for its recommendations to the Council President is a welcome development. Expertise on the substantive issues of the mandate should be the primary consideration in the appointment of the 10 new experts who will take up their functions in 2010. Approximately one third of mandate holders are women, but as the international community conducts the 15-year review of the implementation of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, there remains room for improvement so as to achieve full gender equality. 13. The special procedures complement and add value to other international human rights mechanisms, including to other Council and human rights treaty bodies. They have an important role in early-warning processes and drawing the international community’s attention to emerging issues and global crises, as recently emphasized during a side event convened by OHCHR during the sixty-fourth session of the General Assembly. The Council has mandated groups of thematic and country rapporteurs with additional tasks, such as reports on specific human rights situations in the context of special sessions, for example on the Sudan, the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. As a result of an open invitation extended by the President through their Coordination Committee, special procedures’ voices are heard at all Council special sessions. GE.09-17604 5