REPORTING TO THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES TRAINING GUIDE: Part I — Manual II. About the Training Guide i. Background In January 2015, pursuant to General Assembly Resolution 68/268 “Strengthening and enhancing the effective functioning of the human rights Treaty Body system”, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) established the Treaty Body Capacity-Building Programme with a view to supporting State parties in building up their capacity to implement their treaty obligations. The Programme is based in OHCHR Geneva with a core team, supported by capacitybuilding staff in OHCHR’s regional offices in Addis Ababa, Bangkok, Beirut, Bishkek, Dakar, Panama, Pretoria, Santiago de Chile, Suva and Yaoundé. Under operative paragraph 17 of Resolution 68/268, the General Assembly “Requests the Secretary-General, through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, to support State parties in building their capacity to implement their treaty obligations, and provide in this regard advisory services, technical assistance and capacity-building, in line with its mandate, in consultation with and with the consent of the State concerned.” vi The Capacity-Building Programme aims at transforming reporting from being a perceived burden to being a concrete benefit to State parties and ultimately to rights-holders. The Programme provides assistance on treatyspecific reporting to the State parties, including the preparation of Common Core Documents, and on the establishment or effective functioning of National Mechanisms for Reporting and Follow-up (NMRFs). At the outset the Programme has organized at least two regional train-thetrainers events annually to equip potential trainers from among State officials with the knowledge and skills to provide support to State parties in their increasing engagement with the Treaty Bodies. On the basis of such training events a roster of trainers from among State officials with extensive experience in Treaty Body reporting is being established and a community of practice maintained to facilitate an exchange of lessons learned between roster members. To underpin such activities, the Programme has developed “National Mechanism for Reporting and Follow-up, A Practical Guide to Effective State Engagement with International Human Rights Mechanisms” and a comprehensive “Study on State Practices of Engagement with International Human Rights Mechanisms” on key features of NMRFs and is developing other Treaty Body reporting-related training tools, including online facilities. This Training Guide on Reporting to the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies (henceforth “the Training Guide”) is being developed in this context. ii. Overview of the Training Guide a) What is this Training Guide? The Training Guide is a tool which aims at equipping training facilitators with the knowledge, tools and resources needed to develop a training course on reporting to the United Nations human rights Treaty Bodies (henceforth “treaty reporting”). Its objective is to assist them in developing national capacities in, and knowledge of, on the United Nations human rights treaty system, in particular the reporting process and the roles of different stakeholders therein; and in strengthening the capacity of State parties to fulfil their human rights treaty reporting obligations and engage with the United Nations human rights Treaty Bodies (henceforth “Treaty Bodies”) in a sustainable and meaningful way.