A/72/44 meeting with the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination to discuss issues of common interest and areas of cooperation. L. Implementation of retreat decisions on the working methods of the Committee 20. In follow-up to the decisions of its two-day retreat on working methods, held at its fifty-third session, the Committee undertook the following actions: (a) Six States (Antigua and Barbuda, Cabo Verde, Côte dʼIvoire, Malawi, Seychelles and Somalia) with long overdue initial reports were offered the simplified reporting procedure (see sect. II. D); (b) The Committee started a preliminary substantive evaluation of the simplified reporting procedure (see sect. II. B); (c) The Committee adopted guidelines for follow-up to concluding observations (CAT/C/55/3); (d) The Committee improved the contribution and participation of national human rights institutions, national preventive mechanisms and non-governmental organizations in its sessions (see sect. I. I), including using new communication technologies, such as Skype; (e) The Committee established a working group on individual complaints so as to enable the Committee to apprehend fully the internal processes of the individual complaints procedure; (f) sect. I. G); The Committee decided to draft a revised general comment on article 3 (see (g) The Committee adopted guidelines on the receipt and handling of allegations of reprisals against individuals and organizations cooperating with the Committee under articles 13, 19, 20 and 22 of the Convention (see sect. I. J). M. Participation of Committee members in other meetings 21. During the period under consideration, Committee members actively participated with oral and written contributions in various meetings: (a) A meeting of the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee on regional arrangements for the promotion and protection of human rights, held on 10 August 2016, was attended by Ms. Gaer; (b) A conference entitled “Istanbul Protocol implementation: transforming regional experiences into international norms for effective torture investigation and documentation”, organized by the Government of Kyrgyzstan, the General Prosecutor’s Office, the National Centre for the Prevention of Torture, the Soros FoundationKyrgyzstan, the Coalition of Non-governmental organizations against Torture in Kyrgyzstan and Physicians for Human Rights, held on 21-22 September 2016 in Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was attended by Mr. Modvig; (c) A workshop on the inquiries procedure of the treaty body system, organized by OHCHR in collaboration with the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, held on 6-7 October 2016 in Geneva, was attended by Mr. Bruni and Mr. Heller; (d) A General Assembly side event on realizing Sustainable Development Goal 16 and the role of anti-torture initiatives, organized by the Convention against Torture Initiative and the Association for the Prevention of Torture, held on 18 October 2016 in New York, was attended by Mr. Modvig; 4