A/HRC/23/46 unconditional and integral components of effective integrated border management, and states that Frontex is fully committed to develop and promote a shared understanding of fundamental rights among the entire EU border-guard community and integrate this also into the cooperation with third countries. The Strategy provides that a consultative forum, open also to representatives of the civil society, shall further enrich the overall evaluation and review processes. The Strategy is implemented by an Action Plan, integrated into the Frontex Programme of Work. An annual progress report informs the stakeholders about the implementation of the strategy and the Action Plan. 63. The amended Frontex Regulation (Regulation (EC) 1168/2011) mandated Frontex to draw up and further develop and implement its Fundamental Rights Strategy; establish a Consultative Forum to assist the Executive Director and the Management Board in fundamental rights matters; and designate a Fundamental Rights Officer. The Fundamental Rights Officer is an independent position within Frontex who reports directly to the Management Board and the Consultative Forum. The Fundamental Rights Officer was designated by the Management Board on 27 September 2012 and took office on 17 December 2012. She advises the Executive Director of Frontex on fundamental rights issues and reports on a regular basis and contributes to the internal Frontex mechanism for monitoring fundamental rights, and makes observations to the joint operations and projects from the planning and drafting phase, during implementation, and also to the evaluation. The Consultative Forum, which consists of representatives from the Fundamental Rights Agency, the Council of Europe, the Organization for Security and Co -operation in Europe, UNHCR, the European Asylum Support Office, the International Organization for Migration and nine civil society organisations, provides policy advice. 64. The amended Regulation foresees that Frontex shall draw up and further develop a Code of Conduct applicable to all operations it coordinates. The Code of Conduct shall lay down procedures intended to guarantee the principles of the rule of law and respect for fundamental rights (Art 2.a). Art 5 provides that Frontex shall ensure that all border guards of participating Member States and Frontex staff have received, prior to the participation in operational activities, training in relevant EU law and international law, including fundamental rights and international protection and guidelines for the purpose of identifying persons seeking and directing them towards the appropriate facilities. Moreover, Article 3 introduced an obligation for Frontex Executive Director to terminate or suspend joint operations and pilot projects if he considers that violations of fundamental rights are of a serious nature or likely to persist. 3. The External Borders Fund 65. The External Borders Fund was established by Decision No 574/2007/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council as part of the General programme “Solidarity and Management of Migration Flows ”. 66. Its general objectives include efficient organization of control, covering both checks and surveillance tasks relating to the external borders; efficient management by the Member States of the flows of persons at the external borders; uniform application by border guards of the provisions of Union law on the crossing of external borders; and improvement of the management of activities organised by the consular and other services of the Member States in third countries as regards the flows of third-country nationals into the territory of the Member States. 67. Its specific objectives include improving surveillance systems between border crossing points; gathering information with respect to the evolving situation on the ground; ensuring adequate registration of border crossings; introduction or upgrading of collection of data; improving coordination between authorities operating at border crossing points; improvement of the capacity and the qualifications of border guards; and improving 34