CAT/OP/BRA/2/Add.1 September 20134 guarantees resources to maintain the National Mechanism and pay the salaries of its 11 members. 29. With the aim of regulating Act No. 12847/2013 and establishing guidelines regarding the composition and operation of the National Committee on Preventing and Combating Torture, the President of the Republic solemnly signed Decree No. 8154 of 16 December 2013 during the first World Human Rights Forum (see annex II). The Decree formally establishes that the National Mechanism to Prevent and Combat Torture shall comprise 11 experts, who shall be selected by the National Committee and appointed by the President of the Republic on a three-year renewable mandate. The selection of National Mechanism members shall reflect diversity of race, ethnicity, sex and religion, in full conformity with the Optional Protocol. 30. Lastly, it is important to mention the publication of the first call for nominations of 30 January 2014, in which national professional associations and civil society organizations are invited to present names for the National Committee for the biennium 2014–2015 (see annex III). This invitation illustrates the commitment of the Brazilian State to transparency in forming the National Committee, as well as independence of action and opinion. 31. Act No. 12847 is therefore a major step forward in the development of a State policy to deal with serious human rights violations in places of deprivation of liberty. By creating the National System, the Brazilian State has consolidated a network of actors at the national and local levels that will help coordinate action to prevent and combat torture. The network will, for example, facilitate the exchange of good practices, the organization of measures to implement the recommendations of the National Mechanism, and the negotiation of solutions to issues raised by international bodies with regard to deprivation of liberty. B. Additional measures for the prevention of torture in Brazil 32. Brazil has been putting its Plan of Integrated Action for Preventing and Combating Torture in Brazil into effect through the Human Rights Secretariat of the Office of the President5 since 2006. 33. The Torture Prevention Plan is a Federal Government policy and as such is not automatically binding on the federal entities. The Government has thus negotiated acceptance by the states and the Federal District and persuaded state governments, judiciaries, prosecution services and legislatures to agree to take steps to implement the Plan. 34. In particular, state governments have committed themselves to establishing and running committees and mechanisms to prevent and combat torture. To date, 18 states have 4 5 8 It is important to clarify that the posts created by Act No. 12857/2013 are commission posts, that is to say, of indeterminate duration and indefinite resources, provisional and destined only for managerial, executive and advisory positions. In other words, National Mechanism experts may be civil servants, who have passed public examinations, or may become public servants through appointment. In the latter case, they will not be employed on a permanent basis, and may be removed from their post even in the absence of a court conviction, through an administrative process or a periodic performance appraisal process. The second version of the Plan of Integrated Action for Preventing and Combating Torture in Brazil, which came out in 2010, included provision for the creation of state preventive mechanisms and guidelines for the third National Human Rights Programme (PNDH-3). GE.14-42059