APT General Guidelines Alternative reporting to the Committee against Torture January 2013 ii. Reports on the State Party’s report should be submitted 2 weeks before the opening of the session at which the State Party will be reviewed. Remember that the CAT may receive acceptances of the optional procedure by States at different points during the year. As such, a list of States Parties for whom LOIPRs will be adopted at the next Committee session may be issued quite late. As a consequence, it is difficult to predict which States Parties whose LOIPRs are adopted in any given year will be adopted in the May session, and which will be adopted in the November session. The Secretariat to the Committee have therefore recommended that NGOs prepare reports for any State Party whose list of issues are to be adopted in any year in advance of the May session of the Committee. If the LOIPR is not adopted in May, but in the November session instead, the NGO report submitted in advance of the May session will still be used. f. Where to send reports Reports should be submitted electronically to the Secretariat of the Committee, at cat@ohchr.org. NGOs should also submit 15 hard copies of their report to the following address, if they want copies to be provided to each member of the Committee: Secretariat to the Committee against Torture Human Rights Treaties Division Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Palais Wilson - 52, rue des Pâquis CH-1201 Geneva (Switzerland) 3. Alternative reports – substance and form There is no prescribed format to be followed for drafting shadow reports. However, as a basic rule, remember that the structure of the report should include three main elements: introduction, body of substance, conclusions and recommendations. a. Comprehensive or thematic approach When drafting an alternative report, you can use either of the two approaches. A comprehensive approach would include an article by article analysis, whereas a thematic approach would concentrate on the particular area or theme that you specialise in. It is entirely up to you which approach to choose and it will depend on your capacity and the focus of your work. b. Content i. Report for the adoption of LOIs/LOIPRs The Committee will agree a list of the most important issues concerning effective implementation of the UNCAT. This list will direct the attention of the Committee for the forthcoming State Party review, and therefore it is critical for NGO’s to alert the Committee to any cases, themes, or areas which should be identified as priority areas warranting further examination, and submit information to support their arguments. 5