REPORTING TO THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES TRAINING GUIDE: Part I — Manual NHRIs and CSOs can help in the wide dissemination of the concluding observations through their awareness-raising and human rights education activities. It is essential to make the public aware of the concluding observations and help them understand how the concluding observations may affect the legislation, policies and practice relevant to their day-to-day life. The concluding observations should be circulated to all relevant ministries and State institutions, including local governments, the judiciary and the parliament with a view to identifying recommendations relevant to their respective mandate and developing a plan for implementing the identified recommendations. As previously mentioned, many State parties designate a lead ministry or establish a national mechanism for reporting and follow-up, an NMRF, to take the lead in developing an overall implementation plan which includes clustered recommendations received from different human rights mechanisms, assigning responsibilities for their implementation with timelines, and tracking implementation of the recommendations by relevant Governmental ministries and State bodies (see Chapter 2, National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-up). In some countries a national human rights action plan (NHRAP) could be a useful tool for facilitating the implementation process in a holistic, transparent and responsible manner. Such a NHRAP would require regular updating as new concluding observations from Treaty Bodies and recommendations from other human rights mechanisms are received. The parliament should oversee and contribute to full and meaningful implementation of the concluding observations through its activities, including legislation, adoption of the budget, and oversight of the executive branch. In particular, parliament can regularly monitor the progress made in implementation of the concluding observations by making the executive branch accountable for reporting back to parliament on progress in this regard. 4.3. The Simplified Reporting Procedure In 2014 the General Assembly through its Resolution 68/268 encouraged the Treaty Bodies to offer to State parties for their consideration the Simplified Reporting Procedure (SRP). It also encouraged State parties to use the SRP, when offered, to facilitate preparation of their reports and the constructive dialogue on implementation of their treaty obligations. The SRP does not apply to the SPT and CED, given that the former does not have a reporting mandate and the latter does not envisage periodic reports. All other Treaty Bodies agreed to offer to State parties the Simplified Reporting Procedure (SRP); indeed some were already offering or had already decided to offer the SRP prior to the adoption of GA Res. 68/268 (see Table 6). As at 1 April 2017 all eight concerned Treaty Bodies are making available this procedure to State parties for the submission of their periodic reports.43 So far only CAT and CMW offer the SRP to State parties with long overdue initial reports.44 The procedure is usually offered by the Treaty Body through sending a note verbale to the State concerned; however, some State parties have also proactively sought agreement to use the SRP. 43 In response to the call of the GA to offer to State parties the SRP and its decision to establish word limits for State party reports (GA/ RES/68/268), at its 26th annual meeting the Chairpersons of the UN human rights Treaty Bodies endorsed the view that the Treaty Bodies which examine periodic reports should consider making such a procedure available as from 1 January 2015. The report and recommendations of the 26th meeting are available at: https://goo.gl/9jgBxv 58 44 The Chairperson of the human rights Treaty Bodies also endorsed at its 26th meeting the view that the Committees should consider making the SRP available for consideration of initial reports in those specific instances where they believe this would enhance the constructive dialogue.