24 • Experience in discharging high-level responsibilities in an independent organization relating to human rights or other relevant public, private or voluntary sector organization. • Ability to deal with authorities and management of high-level responsibilities in an independent and impartial manner. • Due to the nature of this position, applicants must be prepared to report impartially in stressful and distressing circumstances. • Cultural awareness. • Applicants must be willing and available to travel. • Members will be expected to commit to approximately 45 working days per year. Desirable • Knowledge and/or experience of the United Nations and its working practices. • High-level interpersonal and teamwork skills. • High-level negotiating and persuasion skills. • Ability to coordinate secretarial support. A panel of senior officials comprising the Head of the Human Rights Division in the Ministry of Justice, the Head of the Human Rights Department in the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and a third individual independent of Government identified and interviewed a shortlist of candidates. The Ministers of Justice and of Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs then reviewed the panel’s preferred candidates and selected one person, who was then nominated through the normal international process. The United Kingdom has relied on this open nomination process on several occasions since, including for the nomination of its candidate for the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In this case, the Department for Work and Pensions announced the call for candidates on its website and also included a member of one of the main organizations representative of persons with disabilities on the interview panel together with a representative of the NHRI, the Equality and Human Rights Commission. The process therefore complied with the requirement of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities that States parties should consult and actively involve persons with disabilities, through their representative organizations, in decision-making processes concerning issues relating to them.