How does the Committee monitor State compliance The Committee is a treaty-based body composed of 10 independent experts with the mandate to monitor how States that have ratified the UNCAT implement the obligations contained therein at the national level. This is done through a wide range of activities such as reviewing States’ periodic reports, deciding on individual complaints, conducting confidential inquiries and providing interpretations of selected provisions or elements of UNCAT through the drafting of General Comments. However, the main activity of the Committee is to conduct regular examinations of how States implement their UNCAT obligations. This is done through periodic reviews of reports produced by the States about their implementation efforts. Each State is supposed to be reviewed every four years, but for a number of reasons, including economic constraints, the effective gap between reviews is significantly longer. A State review process contains a number of steps commonly referred to as the reporting cycle, where the Committee will ask questions and make recommendations to the State, which in return will provide information about initiatives taken towards domestic implementation of UNCAT. In this way, the State reviews provides a venue where Government representatives can have a regular, technical discussion with international experts in the field of torture and ill-treatment on how to best realise the rights and obligations contained in UNCAT at the domestic level. NGOs and other civil society actors can play a crucial role in this process by keeping the Committee informed about domestic developments, thereby ensuring that the discussion is based on a diverse and solid basis of information and that all relevant issues are adequately addressed. The main outcome of a State review is a document containing concluding observations, which summarises the Committee’s findings and makes a number of concrete recommendations for the State to implement in order to better comply with its obligations under UNCAT. These recommendations are important directions for States that have a genuine willingness to improve their domestic protection against torture. They also provide valuable guidance for international actors, such as donors and international organisations, when they determine their human rights priorities in the State in question. Also here, NGOs and other civil society actors can play a crucial role by promoting, supporting, participating in and monitoring the national implementation of the Concluding Observations. The reporting cycle The reporting cycle is composed of four main phases: i) preparation and information collection; ii) the hearing in Geneva; Engaging with State reviews in the UN Committee against Torture: A practical guide 7