heart of national strategic planning, thereby guaranteeing more effective implementation of human rights standards nationally. The reporting process, from the preparation of the report, through the international process of its consideration, to the national response to the treaty body’s recommendations, can also stimulate national debate on human rights within civil society and create new human rights constituencies. Practical advice and assistance from the treaty bodies The output of the treaty bodies can provide States, as well as United Nations country teams and donors, with useful guidance on where more action is required to strengthen the protection of human rights. Once a State party’s reports have been produced and considered by the treaty bodies, practical and targeted concluding observations and recommendations provide precise advice on specific areas which may require attention. The opinions expressed by the committees in response to individual complaints are another source of specific guidance, focused on particular problems that need action. The general comments of the treaty bodies provide additional information of a more elaborate nature on how the treaties should be implemented. Such output can have a significant impact on a State, helping to ensure more effective implementation of the treaties through, for example, the proposal of new legislation or the provision of better human rights training to State officials. The impact depends not only on the Government, but also on parliament and the judiciary as well as on others that can influence the way in which human rights are protected and promoted within the country, such as national and regional parliaments, NHRIs, judges and lawyers, as well as civil society. The impact of the treaty body system on strengthening the protection and promotion of human rights at the national level can further be illustrated by the preventive and operative mandate of the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture, as well as the objectives of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture. The Subcommittee’s preventive field visits directly assist State parties, providing them with observations on the situation on the ground and recommendations for the protection of persons deprived of their liberty and the prevention of torture. Furthermore, the Subcommittee contributes to national institution-building, i.e., by advising and assisting State parties in the establishment of independent national preventive mechanisms. Such national mechanisms are themselves mandated to regularly examine the treatment of persons deprived of their liberty in the country, and to make recommendations to the State authorities to improve the conditions of detention. 42