Annual report of the Human Rights Advisory Council The constitutive meeting of the Human Rights Advisory Council took place on 11 April 2012 in order to ensure the entry into force of the Act on the Implementation of the OPCAT on 1 July 2012 and to enable the appointment of the members as of this date. Furthermore, this made it possible to guarantee the Council‘s right to be heard with regard to the appointment of the Commission members and with respect of the enactment of its own rules of procedure. Participation in the selection of the Commission members The Council was heard prior to the appointment of the Chairpersons of the six Commissions in a meeting of the Human Rights Advisory Council on 14 May 2012. At this meeting, the two chairwomen of the Human Rights Advisory Council reported on the hearings, which had taken place with regard to the applications that were on the shortlist and which it had actively participated in upon invitation of the AOB. The Human Rights Advisory Council took note of the AOB’s recommendation that ensued after consultation with the two chairwomen of the Human Rights Advisory Council. The members of the Commissions were appointed using a similar process. One of the two chairwomen and one additional member or substitute member of the Human Rights Advisory Council took part in the hearings. At the meeting of the Human Rights Advisory Council on 18 June 2012, it took note of the AOB’s recommendation, which was adopted after consultation with the members and the substitute members of the Human Rights Advisory Council and with the Chairpersons of the Commissions who had been present at the hearings. The Chairpersons of the Commissions also attended this meeting. They introduced themselves to the entire Human Rights Advisory Council and responded to questions. Right of the substitute members to attend meetings The hearing of the Human Rights Advisory Council with regard to its own ROP, which is an integral part of the AOB’s and the Commissions’ ROP, was conducted by way of written statements regarding the draft submitted by the AOB. This draft was discussed at the Human Rights Advisory Council’s meeting on 14 May 2012 and accepted by consensus between the AOB and the Human Rights Advisory Council. It is especially worthy of attention that the concurrent and equal participation of members and substitute members in the deliberations of the Human Rights Advisory Council was incorporated into the ROP upon the suggestion of the Human Rights Advisory Council. This is intended to specifically, but not exclusively ensure that all nongovernmental organisations, which participated in the process of selfnomination and, due to the excessive number, could, in some cases, 58