A/76/44 half or more of the States parties were to respond negatively within six weeks from the date of the notification of the nomination by Denmark, that is, by 30 April 2021. D. Oral report of the Chair to the General Assembly 9. In accordance with General Assembly resolution 74/143, on 15 October 2020 then Chair of the Committee, Mr. Modvig, presented the Committee’s report (A/75/44) to the Assembly at its seventy-fifth session, and engaged in an interactive dialogue with the Assembly. Owing to the COVID-19 situation, the presentation of the report and the interactive dialogue took place virtually.1 E. Activities of the Committee in connection with the Optional Protocol to the Convention 10. As at 28 April 2021, there were 90 States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention. 2 As required by the Optional Protocol, and bearing in mind the COVID-19 pandemic and the absence of in situ sessions, on 12 November 2020 a joint online meeting, attended by the Chair of the Committee and members of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, was held. At the joint meeting, the members of both treaty bodies exchanged views on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their respective work and the implications of the treaty body strengthening process for the joint work of the Committee and the Subcommittee, in particular with regard to the coordination of country reviews and visits. 11. The regular meeting between the Committee and the Chair of the Subcommittee, required under the Optional Protocol, for the presentation to the Committee of the fourteenth public annual report of the Subcommittee (CAT/C/70/2) could not take place. F. Joint statement on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and cooperation with the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 12. The Committee adopted a joint statement with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture for issuance on 26 June 2020, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture.3 In addition, the United Nations anti-torture mechanisms participated in a webinar entitled “Combatting torture and ill-treatment in times of COVID-19: testimonies from the ground”, organized by OHCHR and the Association for the Prevention of Torture to mark the Day. G. Participation of non-governmental organizations 13. The Committee has long recognized the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and has an established practice consisting in meeting with them in private on the day immediately before the consideration of each State party report submitted under article 19 of the Convention. The Committee expresses its appreciation to those organizations for their participation in the meetings and is particularly appreciative of the attendance of national NGOs, which provide immediate and direct information both orally and in writing. The Committee conveys special thanks to the World Organization against Torture for its outstanding role in coordinating, since the Committee’s fifty-second session, the input submitted by NGOs relating to the work of the Committee. During the sixty-ninth session, 1 2 3 2 See the Committee web page, hosted on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), www.ohchr.org/. See http://treaties.un.org. See www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/UNVFT/Pages/Torture-related-events.aspx.