A/HRC/33/3 (i) Academic studies in the field of human rights or related areas, and/or experience and exposure to leadership roles in the human rights field at the national, regional or international levels; (ii) Substantial experience (at least five years) and personal contributions in the field of human rights; (iii) Knowledge of the United Nations system and of institutional mandates and policies related to the work in the area of human rights, as well as knowledge of international human rights instruments, norms and disciplines; familiarity with different legal systems and civilizations will be preferable; (iv) Proficiency in at least one official language of the United Nations; (v) Availability of time to fulfil the work of the Advisory Committee in an effective manner, both to attend its sessions and to carry out mandated activities between sessions; (b) High moral standing; (c) Independence and impartiality: individuals holding decision-making positions in Government or any other organization or entity which might give rise to a conflict of interest with responsibilities inherent to the mandate will be excluded; elected members of the Advisory Committee will act in their personal capacity; (d) Other considerations: the principle of non-accumulation of human rights functions at the same time is to be respected. 5. In electing members of the Advisory Committee, the Human Rights Council should give due consideration to gender balance and appropriate representation of different civilizations and legal systems. 6. At its seventh session, the Human Rights Council conducted the first elections of the 18 members of the Advisory Committee. Four members were elected for a one-year term, seven for a two-year term and seven for a three-year term. 7. At its thirty-third session, the Human Rights Council will elect, in accordance with its annual programme of work, Advisory Committee members for the seven vacant seats. Of the seven vacancies, there are two vacancies for African States, two for Asia-Pacific States, one for Eastern European States, one for Latin American and Caribbean States and one for Western European and other States. 8. Pursuant to paragraph 71 of Human Rights Council resolution 5/1, the list of candidates is to be closed two months prior to the election date, and the secretariat is to make available the list of candidates and relevant information to Member States and the public at least one month prior to the election. 9. On 8 April 2016, the secretariat of the Human Rights Council addressed a note verbale to the concerned regional coordinators to encourage proposals of candidates, informing them that the deadline for submission of nominations was 13 June 2016, which was later extended. 10. Further to this, the secretariat received nominations of seven candidates for the elections to membership of the Advisory Committee from the Governments of Algeria, Egypt, China, India, Japan, the Russian Federation, El Salvador and Switzerland. 2