28 III. INDEPENDENCE AND ACCOUNTABILITY A. Independence and impartiality The treaties indicate that members serve in their personal capacity, and some treaties specify that members must also be independent and impartial. Table 6 sets out the terminology used in the various treaties. The treaties do not define “personal capacity”, “independence” and “impartiality”, although it is generally understood that treaty body members should act in accordance with their consciences, the terms of the treaty and in the interest of the treaty body, and that they should not act on behalf of other stakeholders, such as a Government or NGO. Similarly, members should perform their tasks fairly and without bias. The rules of procedure of treaty bodies provide some additional guidance. For example, those of the Human Rights Committee state that a member shall not participate in the examination of a communication under the individual communications procedure if he or she has a personal interest in the case, is a national of the State party involved in the communication or has participated in any capacity in the making of any decision covered by the communication (rule 90). The rules of procedure of other treaty bodies have similar provisions.15 Moreover, the Committee against Torture’s rules of procedure require members who are nationals of the State party concerned or are employed by that State to be excluded from any non-public consultations or meetings between the Committee and NHRIs and NGOs (rules 73 and 109). Some treaty bodies have considered the independence and impartiality of their members more closely and have adopted general comments or general recommendations on the issue. In 1990, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination adopted a general recommendation on the independence of members, noting its alarm at the tendency of States and others to put pressure on its members, particularly country rapporteurs, and strongly recommended that States and others should “respect unreservedly the status of its members as independent experts of acknowledged impartiality serving in their personal capacity”.16 The Human Rights Committee also adopted guidelines related to the functions of its members covering issues such as participation in the reporting and communications procedure and relationships with Governments and NGOs.17 See, for instance, provisional rules of procedure under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, rule 5. 16 General recommendation No. IX (1990) concerning the application of article 8, paragraph 1, of the Convention. 17 Guidelines for the exercise of their functions by members of the Human Rights Committee (A/53/40, vol.  I, annex III); see also the Committee’s guidelines on its relationship with NHRIs (CCPR/C/106/3) and with NGOs (CCPR/C/104/3). 15