A/HRC/31/25 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 17 December 2015 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-first session Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Measures taken to implement Human Rights Council resolution 9/8 and obstacles to its implementation, including recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of, harmonizing and reforming the treaty body system Report of the Secretary-General 1. In its resolution 9/8, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to report annually to the Council on measures taken to implement that resolution and on obstacles to its implementation, including recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of, harmonizing and reforming the treaty body system. The present report is submitted pursuant to that request. 2. In its resolution 68/268, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit to it, on a biennial basis, a comprehensive report on the status of the human rights treaty body system and the progress achieved by the human rights treaty bodies in realizing greater efficiency and effectiveness in their work, including the number of reports submitted and reviewed by the committees, the visits undertaken and the individual communications received and reviewed, where applicable, the state of the backlog, capacity-building efforts and results achieved, as well as the situation in terms of ratifications, increased reporting and the allocation of meeting time and proposals on measures, including on the basis of information and observations from Member States, to enhance the engagement of all State parties in the dialogue with the treaty bodies. The first report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to resolution 68/268 will be submitted to the Assembly in 2016. 3. Comprehensive information on the topics raised in Human Rights Council resolution 9/8 is available at the following websites: • Ratification status by country or by treaty: http://tbinternet.ohchr.org/_layouts/TreatyBodyExternal/Treaty.aspx • Status of ratification maps: http://indicators.ohchr.org/ GE.15-22393(E) *1522393*