A/68/44 32. At its forty-ninth session, the Committee adopted a statement on the Guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies (the Addis Ababa guidelines) (see annex XII). It welcomed the initiative taken by the twenty-third and twenty-fifth meetings of the chairpersons of treaty bodies in which the chairpersons prepared these Guidelines and recommended that each Committee consider them. It noted that the Committee has already set a high standard of independence and impartiality for its members in its rules of procedure (CAT/C/3/Rev.5), namely its rules 15 and 73. 33. At its fiftieth session, the Committee reiterated its strong support for the independence and impartiality of members of the human rights treaty bodies, as affirmed in the Addis Ababa guidelines, and adopted a decision to amend its rules of procedure, in order to annex these guidelines thereto (annex XIII). 34. At the fiftieth session of the Committee, on 22 May, Mr. Bruni, Mr. Satyabhooshun Gupt Domah, Ms. Gaer (as Chairperson) and Ms. Sveaass participated in a video conference with the co-facilitators of the treaty body strengthening process, who are based in New York. The Committee members emphasized the importance of the independence of treaty body members, their competence to establish their own rules of procedure and working methods, their strong engagement in the treaty body strengthening process and their support of the process, as well as the efforts they had undertaken to improve the functioning of the treaty body system, including by pioneering new methodologies to facilitate State party reporting, such as the optional reporting procedure (list of issues prior to reporting), constituting the simplified reporting procedure. S. Rules of procedure 35. Further to its decision taken with regard to the Addis Ababa guidelines, the Committee decided, at its fiftieth session, to amend rules 14, 15 and 109 of its rules of procedures (see annex XIV), in order to strengthen the independence and impartiality of its members, including by modifying the solemn declaration for new members and reinforcing the obligatory non-participation or non-presence of a member during the examination of individual complaints. The consolidated amended rules of procedure may be found on the OHCHR website. T. Twenty-fifth anniversary of the Committee 36. At its fiftieth session, on 7 May 2013, the Committee celebrated its twenty-fifth anniversary at Palais des Nations, in Geneva. On that occasion, the Committee organized an event to provide it with the opportunity to interact with various stakeholders in order to take stock of the experience of and progress made by the Committee in discharging its mandate, as well as to look into the implementation of the provisions of the Convention by States parties. The event brought together States parties to the Convention, United Nations mechanisms and other intergovernmental bodies, non-governmental organizations, academics and other interested parties. 37. The event was divided into two panel discussions; one to identify the main achievements of the Committee, as well as the constraints and challenges it is facing, and another to reflect on the obligations of State parties to provide redress for victims of torture, in the light of the recent adoption of general comment No. 3 (2012) on the implementation of article 14 by States parties. High-level international experts made presentations for each of the panel discussions, followed by plenary discussions. The programme of the ceremony and the text of the presentations may be found on the OHCHR website. GE.13-46043 7