REPORTING TO THE UNITED NATIONS HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES TRAINING GUIDE: Part I — Manual The State party is requested to respond to the List of Issues within a timeframe of several weeks. The deadline is usually indicated in the list. All Treaty Bodies except the CERD require State parties to submit their replies in writing. CERD submits its list of themes just prior to the session so as to inform the structure of the dialogue. Once the Treaty Body adopts a List of Issues, the Secretariat of the respective committee sends the list to the Permanent Mission of the State party to the United Nations in Geneva or New York (if the State party does not have its Permanent Mission in Geneva) so that it can be transmitted to the State party’s capital. b) List of Issues prior to Reporting – Simplified Reporting Procedure In the case of the Simplified Reporting Procedure, the first step is a preparation of a List of Issues Prior to Reporting (LoIPR) by the Treaty Body. The preparation of a LoIPR is based on the previous concluding observations and on information provided to the Treaty Body by other sources such as the UN system, NHRIs and CSOs. These documents are included in the “country file” posted on the OHCHR website. The process of elaboration and adoption of LoIPR is similar to adoption of the LoI (see i(a)). ii. Written replies to the List of Issues Under the Standard Reporting Procedure, the State party has the opportunity of supplementing and clarifying the information contained in the report in their replies to the List of Issues. In preparing its replies to LoIs, the State party should provide the Treaty Body with specific and fully updated information and data relating to the issues in question, including with statistics if available. Written replies are considered official documents and are posted on the website of the relevant Treaty Body. The word limit for written replies under the Standard Reporting Procedure, recommended overall for all Treaty Bodies, should not exceed 10,700 words. State parties should follow the same format used for a regular report. In the case of the Simplified Reporting Procedure, the State party’s written replies to the List of Issues Prior to Reporting constitute the State party report (for further information see Chapter 3, Benefits of Reporting and 4.2.1, Preparation and Submission of the Report). The format and submission of reports under the Standard Reporting Procedure are also applicable to reports under the SRP, including word limits of 31,800 words for initial reports and 21,200 for periodic reports (see Section 4.1.3, Format of the reports). iii. Constructive dialogue The actual review of a State party’s report by a Treaty Body is conducted through a six-hour constructive dialogue between members of the concerned Treaty Body and a State party delegation. In addition to the written reports received, the dialogue helps Treaty Bodies understand and review the human rights situation in the State party as it pertains to the treaty concerned. It serves as a basis for the concluding observations of the Treaty Bodies. The constructive dialogue provides an opportunity for State parties to receive expert advice on compliance with their international human rights commitments. 52