CAT/C/66/2 preventive mechanisms of Hungary, Mauritania, Spain and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. While fully respecting the principle and right of confidentiality provided for in the Optional Protocol, the Subcommittee welcomes the increasing number of visit reports that are being published, believing that this reflects the spirit of transparency on which preventive visiting is based and facilitates better implementation of the respective recommendations. The Subcommittee encourages the recipients of reports to request their publication. 15. In conformity with established practice, the recipients of reports are requested to submit a written reply within six months of their transmission, giving a full account of the action taken and that will be taken to implement the recommendations contained in the reports. During the reporting period, the Subcommittee received such replies from the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Hungary, Maldives, Mexico, Mongolia, Panama and Tunisia and from the national preventive mechanisms of Hungary, Spain and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The Subcommittee considers the replies from the following States parties to be overdue: Benin, Brazil, Cambodia (two reports), Ecuador, Guatemala, Honduras, Liberia (first visit), Mali, Malta, Mozambique, Nauru, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Spain, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, and Turkey. It considers the replies from the national preventive mechanisms of the following States parties to be overdue: Ecuador, Honduras, Mozambique, the Netherlands, the Republic of Moldova and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. 16. During the reporting period, the Subcommittee held advance preparatory meetings with each of the States parties scheduled for a visit and, in accordance with established practice, invited each State party that it visited to meet with it at the subsequent session to discuss how best to advance the post-visit dialogue. E. Developments concerning national preventive mechanisms 17. The Subcommittee has continued to engage in dialogue with States parties and signatories at its sessions concerning the designation or functioning of their national preventive mechanisms. At its thirty-fourth, thirty-fifth and thirty-sixth sessions, it held meetings or teleconferences with representatives of Afghanistan, Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Gabon, Guatemala, Iceland, Ireland, Morocco, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the State of Palestine. 18. At the thirty-sixth session, the Subcommittee held an informal meeting with States parties and signatories to the Optional Protocol, during which States parties were updated on the recent activities of the Subcommittee, discussed the working methods of the Subcommittee, its resources and the Special Fund established under the Optional Protocol, and considered the future direction of its work. 19. The Subcommittee established and maintained direct contact with national preventive mechanisms, in accordance with its mandate under article 11 (b) (ii) of the Optional Protocol. During its sessions, the Subcommittee met or held videoconferences with the national preventive mechanisms of Cambodia, Croatia, Czechia, Ecuador, France, Georgia, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, the Philippines and Sri Lanka, as well as with the National Commission on Human Rights of Lebanon. 20. The Subcommittee and its members have continued to receive invitations to attend numerous national, regional and international meetings on the designation, establishment and development of national preventive mechanisms in particular and on the Optional Protocol in general. The Subcommittee is grateful to the organizers of those and all other events to which it has been invited. It regrets that its participation must remain conditional on the financial support of others, as it has no budget allocation with which to fund its members’ attendance. The Subcommittee also would be grateful if all invitations to official events and discussions were made through the Subcommittee secretariat in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). 5