Annex I Glossary of technical terms related to the treaty bodies Backlog Despite the problems of late and non-reporting by State parties, some treaty bodies have found it difficult to keep up with the high number of reports that they have to consider each year. The resulting backlog means up to two years may go by between the submission of a report by a State party and its examination by the committee. The need to request updated information is one reason for the practice of issuing lists of questions (see below). More efficient working methods can reduce the backlog, and some committees have proposed innovative approaches. The Committee on the Rights of the Child and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, for example, occasionally meet in two parallel chambers. Bureau The bureau usually consists of the chair, the vice-chairs, the rapporteur or any other designated member of a committee, and meets to decide procedural and administrative matters related to that committee’s work. Chair Each treaty body elects one of its members to act as chair for a term of two years. He or she chairs each meeting in accordance with the agreed rules of procedure. The chairs of all the treaty bodies meet once a year to coordinate the activities of the treaty bodies. Common core document A document submitted by a State party to the Secretary-General containing information of a general nature about the country which is relevant to all the treaties, such as information on land and population, on the political structure, on the general legal framework within which human rights are protected in the State, and on non-discrimination, equality and effective remedies. It constitutes the common initial part of all the State reports to the treaty bodies. The core document was introduced in 1991 by the meeting of chairpersons as a way of reducing some of the repetition in the reports. The guidelines for this document were reviewed in 2006 (HRI/GEN/2/ Rev.6). 47