IV. FOLLOW-UP ON RECOMMENDATIONS AND OBSERVATIONS ON STATES PARTIES REPORTS 115. At its thirtieth session, in May 2003, the Committee began a routine practice of identifying, at the end of each set of concluding observations, a limited number of recommendations that are of a serious nature and warrant a request for additional information following the dialogue with the State party concerning its periodic report. The Committee identifies conclusions and recommendations regarding the reports of States parties which are serious, can be accomplished in a one-year period, and are protective. The Committee has requested those States parties reviewed since the thirtieth session of the Committee to provide the information sought within one year. 116. In order to assist the Committee in this practice, the Committee established the position of Rapporteur on follow-up to concluding observations under article 19 of the Convention and appointed Ms. Felice Gaer to that position, in accordance with rule 68, paragraph 2, of the rules of procedure. 117. In reporting to the Committee on the results of the follow-up procedure, the Rapporteur has noted its congruence with the aim cited in the preamble to the Convention, which emphasizes the desire of the United Nations “to make more effective the struggle against torture and other cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment or punishment”. With this procedure, the Committee seeks to advance the Convention’s requirement that “each State party shall take effective legislative, administrative, judicial or other measures to prevent acts of torture” (art. 2, para. 1) and the undertaking “to prevent … other acts of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment …” (art. 16). She recalled that, in its concluding observations and recommendations, the Committee recommends specific actions designed to enhance each State party’s ability to promptly and effectively implement the measures necessary and appropriate to preventing acts of torture and thereby assists States parties in bringing their law and practice into full compliance with the Convention. 118. The Rapporteur has welcomed the follow-up information provided by six States parties as of 20 May 2005, when its thirty-fourth session concluded, indicating the commitment of the States parties to an ongoing process of dialogue and cooperation aimed at enhancing compliance with the requirements of the Convention. The documentation received will be given a document number and made public. The Rapporteur has assessed the responses received particularly as to whether all of the items designated by the Committee for follow-up (normally between three and five issues) have been addressed, whether the information provided is responsive, and whether further information is required. 119. With regard to the States parties that have not supplied the information requested, the Rapporteur will write to solicit the outstanding information. The chart below details, as of 20 May 2005, the conclusion of the Committee’s thirty-fourth session, the status of follow-up replies to concluding observations since the practice was initiated. As of that date, the replies from seven States parties remained outstanding. 120. As the Committee’s mechanism for monitoring follow-up to concluding observations was established in May 2003, this chart describes the results of this procedure from its initiation until the close of the thirty-fourth session in May 2005. 49