CAT/C/66/2 2. Subcommittee working groups 39. One of the biggest challenges for the parallel working groups established by the Subcommittee to expedite its work and to maximize effectiveness and efficiency during 2018 has been the unavailability of sufficient interpretation facilities to allow them to work in an inclusive fashion. In order to ensure that all members have the ability to contribute to their work, it has been necessary to resort to working groups of the whole, held in plenary. Given the shortage of plenary meeting time, this has contributed to the delay in the Subcommittee being able to process essential business. This cannot continue, particularly as the Subcommittee has not been able to take advantage of additional plenary meeting time made available to it due to the failure of the General Assembly to provide additional staffing to OHCHR. The Subcommittee is continuing to seek solutions to this problem – but it is a problem which could easily be solved by the allocation of appropriate levels of support for its work by the General Assembly, the United Nations Office at Geneva and OHCHR. 40. Despite these difficulties, the working group on procedural issues and jurisprudence has provided input to respond to requests for advice and assistance from national preventive mechanisms and has outlined issues related to procedures and operations – before, during and after visits. Most notably, the working group presented to the plenary the revised rules of procedure of the Subcommittee, which were adopted by its plenary at the Subcommittee’s thirty-sixth session, in November 2018, this being the first comprehensive reworking of the rules since their adoption. The working group on health aspects of torture prevention has also continued its work as best it can, in spite of these difficulties. 3. Regional teams 41. The regional teams and the respective country rapporteurs have continued to engage extensively with national preventive mechanisms, which has included but not been limited to providing feedback on annual reports, and addressing queries made by national preventive mechanisms and providing them with substantive and practical information in countryspecific contexts. 42. In an effort to ensure consistency between regions, the heads of regional teams also met periodically, to ensure that recommendations from the regional teams were consistent and objective. B. Issues of note 43. The General Assembly agreed to a request to provide an additional week of meeting time for the Subcommittee, recognizing that this was necessary in the light of increased participation in the Optional Protocol system and the need to intensify its visit programme, its post-visit dialogue and its work with national preventive mechanisms. As has been noted, since corresponding additional staffing has not been provided, the Subcommittee regretfully decided it had no practical alternative other than to abandon for now the extra week of meeting time, pending the provision of the human resources necessary to permit it to take place in a purposive and productive way. 44. The Subcommittee did not take this decision lightly, as additional time is most definitely required to discuss and decide matters before it constructively. The reality is that the total workload of the Subcommittee has more than doubled over a period in which the level of staffing available to the Subcommittee has at best remained stable. For the Subcommittee, the additional time granted appears no more than a symbolic recognition of a need, rather than a means of fulfilling that need, and it does nothing to assist the Subcommittee to effectively carry out its work. 45. The Subcommittee is fully committed to the treaty body strengthening process as reflected in General Assembly resolution 68/268. However, just as that resolution failed to effectively engage with the needs of the Subcommittee, discussions concerning the 2020 review once again appear not to be properly taking account of its needs. The Subcommittee will continue to press to have the capacity for it to undertake 10 to 12 visits each year, and to be able to support States parties in the establishment of national preventive mechanisms as 9