would expire on 31 December 2012. The terms of office of all the newly elected members commenced on 1 January 2013 and will be for a period of four years, expiring on 31 December 2016. In conformity with the Subcommittee’s rules of procedure, all new members of the Subcommittee made a solemn declaration at the opening of the February 2013 session before assuming their duties. 9.The Bureau, which was elected for the period February 2011–February 2013, comprised Malcolm Evans as Chairperson and four Vice-Chairpersons, each of whom exercised primary responsibility (under the overall leadership of the Chairperson and in cooperation with each other) for aspects of the Subcommittee’s work as provided for in the Optional Protocol. The four ViceChairpersons and their areas of primary responsibility were as follows: Mario Coriolano, National Preventive Mechanisms; Zdeněk Hájek, Visits; Suzanne Jabbour, External Relations; and Aisha Muhammad, Jurisprudence and Subcommittee Rapporteur. On 1 October 2012, Mr. Coriolano resigned, following election as a member of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee. 10.In itsfifth annual report (CAT/C/48/3, para. 10), the Subcommittee set out details of the system of regional focal points and regional task forces on NPMs which has been established. The role of the focal points is to undertake liaison activities and facilitate the coordination of the Subcommittee’s engagement within the regions they serve and to lead the work of the regional NPM task forces. The regional focal points are as follows: Africa, Fortuné Zongo; Asia and the Pacific, Lowell Goddard; Europe, Mari Amos; Latin America, Víctor RodríguezRescia. During the reporting period, the regional task forces have been developed to form a primary building block of the Subcommittee’s work. The task forces meet in parallel during plenary sessions to consider developments relating to NPMs within their region. They then report back to the plenary with recommendations regarding plans for further and future engagement. Based on their regional knowledge and experience, the task forces also make recommendations to the plenary regarding the visiting programme for the forthcoming year, ensuring that the programme of universal visiting is generated in a reasoned and participative manner in accordance with strategic operational criteria, impartially applied. 11.The Subcommittee’s working groups on security matters and on medical issues met during the reporting period. The former concluded a protocol on field security during Subcommittee visits. At the seventeenth session of the Subcommittee, the working group on medical issues convened a training workshop on mental health in places of detention, with the participation of eight national experts, and with the generous financial support of the German Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the assistance of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT). 12.At its seventeenth session (June 2012), the Subcommittee decided to establish a number of ad hoc working groups, further information on which is provided in chapter IV, sections A and B, below. 13.All the above-mentioned developments reflect the Subcommittee’s preference to maximize the potential of its plenary sessions by meeting in subgroups and working groups which facilitate engagement with a broader range of issues, with more depth and focus and in a more inclusive fashion than would otherwise be possible. C.Visits conducted during the reporting period 14.The Subcommittee carried out five visits in 2012 in fulfilment of its mandate. 15.Two of the visits followed the established pattern of visiting under article 11 (a) of the Optional Protocol. From 18 to 27 April 2012, the Subcommittee visited Argentina, the sixth country visited by the Subcommittee in Latin America. From 19 to 28 September 2012, it visited Kyrgyzstan, the fourth country visited by the Subcommittee in Asia. The Subcommittee had announced its intention to undertake a third visit, to Gabon, during the course of 2012 but this visit has been delayed for operational reasons. 16.In accordance with its mandate under articles 11 (b) and 12 of the Optional Protocol, in 2012 the Subcommittee undertook for the first time short advisory visits on the establishment and functioning of national preventive mechanisms (NPM advisory visits), in Honduras (April-May), Republic of Moldova (October) and Senegal (December). Further information on this development is provided in chapter IV, section A, below. 17.Further summary information on all these visits, including lists of places visited, may be found in the press releases issued following each visit, which are available on the Subcommittee website. D. Dialogue arising from visits, including publication of the Subcommittee ’s reports by States parties and n ational p reventive m echanisms 18.The substantive aspects of the dialogue process arising from visits are governed by the rule of confidentiality and are only made public with the consent of the State party in question. At the end of the reporting period the Subcommittee had transmitted a total of 15 visit reports to States parties (3 within the reporting period, to Argentina, Brazil and Mali), one follow-up visit report, two reports arising from an NPM advisory visit to an NPM and two reports arising from an NPM advisory visit to a State party (both within the reporting period, to Honduras and the Republic of Moldova). A total of seven Subcommittee visit reports have been made public following a request from the State party under article 16, paragraph 2, of the Optional Protocol, one of which was within the reporting period, that of Brazil. One visit report arising from the NPM advisory visit to Honduras was made public following a request from the NPM of Honduras. 19.In conformity with established practice, States parties are requested to provide a reply to a visit report within six months of its transmission to the State party, giving a full account of action taken to implement the recommendations which it contains. At the end of this reporting period, the Subcommittee had received nine replies from State parties, four of which were received within the reporting period (Brazil, Lebanon, Mexico and Ukraine). The Subcommittee considers the replies from the following States parties to be currently overdue: Cambodia, Honduras, Liberia and Maldives. Reminder letters have been sent to those States parties. The replies from Bolivia (Plurinational State of), Lebanon, Mauritius and Ukraine remain confidential, while those from Benin, Brazil, Mexico, Paraguay and Sweden have been made public at the request of those States parties.