CAT/C/44/2* Optional Protocol, is the responsibility of OHCHR. The Subcommittee has expressed its willingness to pursue discussions on the Special Fund. 59. To date the Czech Republic, Maldives and Spain have made voluntary contributions to the Fund. The Subcommittee is firmly convinced that, as it carries out more visits and more reports are made public, more States will support its work with generous contributions to the Fund. 60. During its plenary sessions and in other external forums, the Subcommittee members discussed relations with other relevant United Nations bodies. In particular, given the complementarity of the Subcommittee’s work and that of the Special Rapporteur on the question of torture, the Subcommittee has kept in close contact with Mr. Manfred Nowak and has discussed common challenges faced and methods of working. These discussions took place this year during the seventh session of the Subcommittee, at the presentation of the various reports to the General Assembly, and at a workshop organized by the Council of Europe and the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CPT) on 6 November 2009 in Strasbourg, France. 61. Mr. Gianni Magazzeni from the Field Operations and Technical Cooperation Division (National Institutions Unit), and members of his staff, attended the ninth plenary session to discuss accreditation of the National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) which in many cases have been designated as national mechanisms for the prevention of torture. At that meeting the Subcommittee confirmed its view that the accreditation of national human rights institutions in accordance with the Paris Principles is a supplementary mechanism but should not be used as a procedure for accreditation of national mechanisms in general, since it is for the Subcommittee to make such assessments in specific cases. 62. The Subcommittee continues to be represented at the inter-committee meetings of United Nations human rights treaty bodies, which are a good opportunity to exchange views with experts whose mandates intersect substantively with the Subcommittee mandate. There are points of common interest among the treaty bodies. The Subcommittee’s work relates in particular to the mandate of the Committee against Torture and the Human Rights Committee, with respect to the rights of persons deprived of liberty, and likewise to the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, which covers the rights of children deprived of liberty, and of the Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, as regards the rights of women deprived of liberty. The Subcommittee has also attended a workshop with the Chairperson of the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, in Bristol, United Kingdom, at which an outline for joint work on the situation of persons with disabilities deprived of liberty was drawn up. The Subcommittee has had occasion to cite the Committee against Torture, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child in its reports on its visits to date. 63. Also for purposes of cooperation, the Subcommittee held a meeting with officials from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in the course of its ninth session, at which for the first time strategic information was shared that, in the context of its mandates, might make its visits to persons being held in places of asylum more effective. B. Relations with other relevant international organizations 64. The Subcommittee also remained in contact with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the two bodies kept up a positive dialogue on the many related areas of their work. This year representatives of ICRC met with the Subcommittee during its eighth session in order to exchange information and proposals for future cooperation under GE.10-41876 17