A/75/44 the duties assigned to them until one day before the first meeting of the Committee at the next in-person session. D. Oral report of the Chair to the General Assembly 10. In accordance with paragraph 35 of General Assembly resolution 68/156, on 14 October 2019 the Chair of the Committee presented an oral report to and engaged in an interactive dialogue with the Assembly at its seventy-fourth session (see the Committee web page, hosted on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), www.ohchr.org/). E. Activities of the Committee in connection with the Optional Protocol to the Convention 11. As at 15 May 2020, there were 90 States parties to the Optional Protocol to the Convention (see http://treaties.un.org). As required by the Optional Protocol, on 21 November 2019 a joint meeting was held between the members of the Committee and the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Both treaty bodies and the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment pursued their cooperation through their active joint participation in several events, such as a side event during the General Assembly entitled “Professionalizing police and preventing torture”, organized by the Permanent Mission of Denmark to the United Nations, the Convention against Torture Initiative and the Association for the Prevention of Torture, and held on 14 October 2019. 12. The regular meeting between the Committee and the Chair of the Subcommittee, required under the Optional Protocol, for the presentation to the Committee of the thirteenth public annual report of the Subcommittee (CAT/C/69/3) could not take place due to the postponement of the sixty-ninth session. F. Joint statement on the occasion of the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture and cooperation with the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture 13. The Committee adopted a joint statement with the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, the Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture for issuance on 26 June 2019, the United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture (see the web page of the Voluntary Fund at www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Torture/UNVFT/Pages/IntlDay.aspx). The regular meeting between the Committee and the Chair of the Board of Trustees to discuss areas of common interest and cooperation could not take place due to the postponement of the sixty-ninth session. G. Participation of non-governmental organizations 14. The Committee has long recognized the work of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and has met with them in private on the day immediately before the consideration of each State party report submitted under article 19 of the Convention. The Committee expresses its appreciation to those organizations for their participation in the meetings and is particularly appreciative of the attendance of national NGOs, which provide immediate and direct information both orally and in writing. The Committee conveys special thanks to NGOs, particularly the World Organization against Torture for its outstanding role in coordinating the input of NGOs to the work of the Committee since its fifty-second session. The Committee has benefited from thematic briefings organized by organizations, such as: (a) a briefing on the prohibition of coerced evidence, relating to article 15 of the Convention against Torture, held on 31 July 2019 and organized by Redress; (b) a briefing on the access of human rights NGOs to places of deprivation of liberty, held on 22 November 2019 and 2