A/HRC/25/24 I. Introduction A. Submission of the report 1. The present report was prepared in accordance with General Assembly resolution 68/156, by which the Assembly encouraged contributions to the Special Fund established by the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (Optional Protocol), and requested the SecretaryGeneral to report to the Human Rights Council on the operations of the Fund. The present note complements the report of the Secretary-General on the activities of the Fund, submitted to the General Assembly at its sixty-eighth session (A/68/281). B. Mandate of the Special Fund 2. The Special Fund was established pursuant to article 26 of the Optional Protocol, to help finance the implementation of the recommendations made by the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment following a visit to a State party to the Optional Protocol, as well as education programmes of national preventive mechanisms. 3. It receives voluntary earmarked contributions from Governments, intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations and other private or public entities. C. Management of the Special Fund 4. The Special Fund is administered by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in accordance with the Financial Regulations and Rules of the United Nations. D. Eligibility criteria 5. Applications may be submitted by State institutions of those States parties visited by the Subcommittee and who have agreed to the publication of the Subcommittee report, and the national preventive mechanisms of these States parties. Furthermore, applications may also be submitted by national human rights institutions compliant with the principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles) and by non-governmental organizations, if the proposed projects are to be implemented in cooperation with eligible States parties and/or national preventive mechanisms. Only applications relating to recommendations contained in those Subcommittee visit reports that have been published in accordance with article 16, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol, and hence are no longer confidential, are considered. II. Activities of the Special Fund A. 2013 project cycle 6. The second call for applications to the Special Fund, for grants for projects to be implemented in 2013, closed on 15 October 2012. For this call, specific thematic priorities 2