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✔✔ Urgent actions. The Committee on Enforced Disappearances has the
authority to receive urgent requests that a disappeared person should be
sought and found, from relatives of the disappeared person or their legal
representative or any other authorized person. Once it is satisfied that the
request meets certain criteria, the Committee may request the State party
to provide it with information on the situation of the persons sought within
a time limit set by the Committee.
✔✔ Inter-State complaints. Many treaty bodies have the authority to receive
complaints from one State party that another State party is not giving
effect to the provisions of the treaty. While procedures differ among the
treaties, the treaty body generally makes its good offices available to
the relevant States parties with a view to achieving a friendly settlement.
As with the individual communications and inquiries procedures, the
inter-State complaints procedure is optional. States parties must make a
declaration that they accept the procedure before making or being subject
to a complaint. To date, no State has invoked the inter-State complaints
procedure under any of the treaties.
In addition:
✔✔ Early warning and urgent actions. The Committee on the Elimination of
Racial Discrimination may request further information from States parties
as part of its reporting procedure when it receives information justifying
measures to prevent a situation from escalating into conflict (“early
warning”) or information requiring the Committee’s urgent attention
(“urgent action”). The Committee’s early warning and urgent action
procedure is distinct from the urgent action procedure of the Committee
on Enforced Disappearances. The former considers it to be part of its
reporting procedure. For the latter, it is a distinct procedure.
✔✔ Follow-up procedures. Most treaty bodies have adopted written follow-up
procedures related to both the reporting procedure and the individual
communications procedure. Under the reporting procedure, the treaty
body identifies two to four recommendations that meet certain criteria
(for example, they are easily achievable, are preventive or require
urgent attention), and the State party has one to two years to report on
implementation. The treaty body then reviews this response and expresses
its level of satisfaction with the efforts that the State party has made. The
treaty body may request the State party to provide additional information
and report back within a fixed period of time or, alternatively, to provide
such information in its next periodic report. Under the communications
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