Human Rights Institutions: History, Principles, Roles and Responsibilities, Professional Training Series No. 4/Rev.1 (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.09.XIV.4) and on the OHCHR website at: http://nhri.ohchr.org/EN/IHRS/TreatyBodies/Pages/default.aspx. C. The contribution of the universal periodic review to the work of the treaty bodies The universal periodic review (UPR) is the inter-State cooperative mechanism, established by the General Assembly in 2006 as one of the procedures of the Human Rights Council, to review the human rights performance of all States. The mechanism is based on an interactive dialogue between the State under review and the member and observer States of the Council. It operates on a four-and-a-half-year cycle and is composed of several stages, including the preparation of the documents that reviews are based on, the review itself, and follow-up to the conclusions and recommendations. The second and subsequent cycles will focus especially on the implementation of the recommendations that States have accepted in the previous cycle and on further developments in their human rights situation. Civil society organizations, NHRIs and United Nations agencies actively participate in the process. This review and the treaty bodies complement each other. The review has been extremely useful in bringing to the attention of State parties the need to submit their reports to the committees regularly and to implement their recommendations. On their side the treaty bodies also remind State parties of the need to implement the recommendations of the universal periodic review. D. The contribution of the special procedures to the work of the treaty bodies “Special procedures” is the name given to the mechanisms established initially by the Commission on Human Rights and assumed since 2006 by the Human Rights Council to examine, monitor, advise and publicly report on human rights situations in specific countries or territories (country mandates), or on major phenomena of human rights violations worldwide (thematic mandates). As of February 2012, there are 45 special procedures (35 thematic mandates and 10 country mandates). Special procedure mandate holders are either individuals (known as “special rapporteurs” or “independent experts”) or working groups with five members, one from each region. They serve in their personal capacity and receive no remuneration. Their methods 44