Seeking Remedies for Torture Victims: A Handbook on the Individual Complaints Procedures of the UN Tready Bodies
political and legal structure, and other general information.362 The same core document can suffice for reports to all UN human rights treaty bodies. The core document should be updated when necessary.
A State report is a public document, and is available via the treaty bodies’ website at
http://tb.ohchr.org/default.aspx. This website also details the dates at which future
reports are due. For further details on the reporting process, it is recommended to
visit the websites of the HRC363 and the CAT Committee.364
In its initial report, a State party should outline how it implements the rights in the
respective treaty. It should give details of relevant legislation, policies, and practices. It is not sufficient to simply outline legislation without commenting on how, or
if, that legislation is enforced. It should also highlight areas where implementation
is deficient or problematic.365
Once a report is submitted, a dialogue between the State’s representatives and the
relevant Committee regarding the contents of a report and other matters relating
to its record on compliance with the relevant treaty will be scheduled.
In terms of process, the Committee will analyse the report, upon which a list of
issues (LoI) will be drafted, generally by the member(s) of the Committee appointed
as country rapporteurs or a country report task force, which will then be adopted
in plenary in the session ahead of the State party’s report.366 Subsequently, the
State party will reply to the LoI in writing and, in addition, it will send a delegation
to Geneva to engage in an interactive constructive dialogue with the Committee
at the session within which the examination of the report will be conducted.
The adoption of the LoI, in the session prior to the examination of the State party
report, allows, on one hand, the Committee to ask for the clarification and update
of certain issues and, on the other, provides time and guidance to the State party
for the preparation of the discussion with the Committee, taking into account
362 UN Fact Sheet No. 15, Rev. 1, “Civil and Political Rights: The Human Rights Committee”, available at:
http://www.ohchr.org/english/about/publications/sheets.htm, p. 11. See also Guidelines for the treaty-specific document to be submitted by States parties under article 40 of the ICCPR, (2010) UN
Doc. CCPR/C/2009/1.
363 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CCPR/Pages/CCPRIndex.aspx.
364 http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CAT/Pages/CATIndex.aspx.
365 See UN Fact Sheet No. 15, Rev. 1, “Civil and Political Rights: The Human Rights Committee”, pp.
10–12 for instructions on how a State should prepare a report, available at: http://www.ohchr.org/
english/about/publications/sheets.htm. See also Guidelines for the treaty-specific document to be
submitted by States parties under Article 40 of the ICCPR, (2010) UN Doc. CCPR/C/2009/1.
366 See CAT Committee, Information for Civil Society Organisations and National Human Rights
Institutions (NHRIs), available at: http://www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/CAT/Pages/NGOsNHRIs.
aspx; regarding the HRC, see CCPR Centre, “NGO Guidelines on the Reporting Process of the
UN Human Rights Committee” (available in English, French and Spanish, thereafter “NGO
Guidelines on the Reporting Process”) (2010), available at: http://www.ccprcentre.org/publication/
ngo-guidelines-on-the-reporting-process-of-the-un-human-rights-committee/.
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