CAT/C/52/2 6. The Subcommittee membership has changed during 2013.2 On 25 October 2012, at the fourth Meeting of States Parties to the Optional Protocol, 12 members were elected to fill the vacancies arising in respect of members whose terms of office expired on 31 December 2012. The terms of office of all the newly elected members commenced on 1 January 2013 and are for a period of four years, expiring on 31 December 2016. In conformity with the Subcommittee’s rules of procedure, new members of the Subcommittee made a solemn declaration at the opening of its nineteenth session, before assuming their duties. During the course of the year, Christian Pross and Olivier Obrecht resigned their membership of the Subcommittee, on 30 October and 12 December 2013, respectively. 7. At its nineteenth session, the Subcommittee elected its Bureau for the period to February 2015. Malcolm Evans was elected Chairperson. The four elected ViceChairpersons and their areas of primary responsibility were: Suzanne Jabbour, National Preventive Mechanisms; Aisha Shujune Muhammad, Jurisprudence and Subcommittee Rapporteur; Wilder Tayler Souto, Visits; and Fortuné Gaétan Zongo, External Relations. 8. In its fifth annual report (CAT/C/48/3, para. 10), the Subcommittee had set out details of the system of regional focal points and national preventive mechanism (NPM) regional task forces which it had established. At its nineteenth session, the Subcommittee replaced that structure with a system of regional teams. The heads of regional teams are: Africa, Paul Lam Shang Leen; Asia and the Pacific, Lowell Goddard; Europe, Mari Amos; and Latin America, Judith Salgado Alvarez. The regional teams form a primary building block of the Subcommittee’s work, examining the implementation of the Optional Protocol in the States parties in their region. They report back to the Subcommittee plenary, proposing recommendations where desirable. The regional teams also make recommendations to the plenary regarding the visiting programme for the forthcoming year, ensuring that the programme of universal visiting is established in a reasoned and participative manner in accordance with impartially applied strategic operational criteria. 9. The Subcommittee’s permanent and ad hoc working groups met at each session during 2013. Further information on those meetings is provided in section IV below. 10. These developments reflect the Subcommittee’s preference for meeting in subgroups and working groups, which facilitate discussion of a broader range of issues, in more depth, with greater focus and in a more inclusive fashion than would otherwise be possible. C. Visits conducted during the reporting period 11. The Subcommittee carried out six official visits in 2013. 12. Three visits were undertaken in accordance with its mandate under article 11 (a) of the Optional Protocol, to New Zealand (29 April–8 May), Peru (10–20 September) and Gabon (3–12 December). 13. Two visits were undertaken in accordance with its mandate under articles 11 (b) and 12 of the Optional Protocol, to Germany (8–12 April) and Armenia (3–6 September). 14. One visit was undertaken in accordance with its mandate under article 13, paragraph 4, of the Optional Protocol, to Cambodia (9–13 December). 2 4 For a list of members and the duration of their mandates, see the Subcommittee website.