Seeking Remedies for Torture Victims: A Handbook on the Individual Complaints Procedures of the UN Tready Bodies Tel.: + 41 22 917 97 06 Fax: + 41 22 917 90 08 Email: cat@ohchr.org At the conclusion of the session in which a report is examined, the Committee will adopt Concluding Observations on the relevant State party. These Concluding Observations are divided into various sections: Introduction, Positive Aspects, and Principal Subjects of Concern and Recommendations. The Concluding Observations, particularly the Principal Subjects of Concern and Recommendations, are then “followed up” by the relevant Committee. That is, a Committee member (who has been appointed as a follow-up Special Rapporteur) will engage in a dialogue with a State as to how or if it is implementing those recommendations, and addressing subjects of priority concern. Follow-up information is publicly available via the treaty bodies’ website. The follow-up process is discussed in Section 2.4.1(a). The Concluding Observations also highlight areas that should be the focus of the next report. Periodic reports do not have to cover every treaty right in the same detail as the initial report, though significant developments between reports must be explained.369 That is, in periodic reports subsequent to its initial report, the State party should focus on issues “raised by the Committee in its previous Concluding Observations, and on significant developments since the previous report”.370 It is worth taking into account that, as developed in Section 2.3.1(b) below, there is an ongoing reform of the reporting system which aims to improve its effectiveness through the adoption of a simplified and more focused reporting procedure. Among the adjustments, those States parties that accept the new reporting procedure will not be transmitted the afore-mentioned LoI prior to the examination of the State party’s report. The cycle of State reporting is as follows: – State submits report to relevant Committee. – A dialogue between the Committee and State representatives is scheduled. – The LoI prior to the examination of the report is adopted and transmitted to the State party (see Section below on the reform of the system). – Committee members may also receive information on the State from other sources, such as NGOs. 369 UN Fact Sheet No. 15, Rev. 1, “Civil and Political Rights: The Human Rights Committee”, p. 11. 370 Ibid., p. 15. 124