25 C. Elections Elections are held every two years. Elections in New York generally take place in May and June. Elections for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights take place during the session of the Economic and Social Council, generally in June.14 Elections under the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol take place in Geneva. The elections for the Committee against Torture take place every two years in the month of October, as do those under the Optional Protocol. Each treaty—or in the case of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, resolution 1985/17 of the Economic and Social Council—stipulates that the Secretary-General organizes all the meetings of States parties during which elections take place. In practice, this means that OHCHR organizes the elections for all treaty bodies, with the exception of those for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which are organized by the secretariat of the Economic and Social Council, located in the Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Each treaty body’s rules of procedure govern the meetings of States parties, Table 5: Election calendar Treaty body Timing of elections Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination Odd years (2015, 2017, 2019 …) Human Rights Committee Even years (2016, 2018, 2020 …) Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Even years Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women Even years Committee against Torture Odd years Committee on the Rights of the Child Even years Committee on Migrant Workers Odd years Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture Even years Committee on Enforced Disappearances Odd years Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Even years This is likely to change, however, since the General Assembly, in its resolution 68/268, recommended that the Economic and Social Council consider replacing the existing procedure for the election of experts to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights with a meeting of States parties to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, while preserving the current structure, organization and administrative arrangements of the Committee as set forth in Council resolution 1985/17. 14 

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