A/HRC/19/28 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 9/8 entitled “Effective implementation of international human rights instruments,” the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to report annually on measures taken to implement the resolution and on obstacles to its implementation, including recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of, harmonizing and reforming the treaty body system. This report briefly highlights the most recent developments in this regard. II. Activities of the treaty bodies in 2011 2. Information regarding the twenty-third meeting of the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies, held in Geneva on 30 June and 1 July 2011, has been submitted to the sixty-sixth session of the General Assembly pursuant to its resolution 57/202. That report (A/66/175) also includes information on the outcome of the twelfth Inter-Committee Meeting which was held in Geneva from 27 to 29 June 2011. Two representatives of each treaty body were invited. With a view to enhancing the effectiveness of the treaty bodies, the item, “The structure of the dialogue between treaty bodies and States parties, the structure and length of concluding observations and the mode of interaction of treaty bodies with stakeholders, in particular national human rights institutions and civil society actors,” was included on the agenda of the Inter-Committee Meeting. 3. During 2011, human rights treaty bodies held 23 sessions amounting to 71 weeks of meetings in Geneva and New York (each session lasting between one and four weeks), during which 115 State party reports were reviewed in plenary sessions, and an equivalent number in working groups, where such groups exist. In 2011, the sessions of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and the Committee against Torture were extended by one week to address the backlog of reports awaiting review. As at 1 December 2011, treaty bodies had received a total of 117 State party reports, including 12 common core documents. The Committee on Enforced Disappearance held its first session in 2011, and adopted its provisional rules of procedure. The Human Rights Committee amended articles 68 to 70 of its rules of procedure to enable the examination, in public, of States parties in the absence of a report. 4. Treaty bodies continued to develop, improve and implement new working methods, such as establishing the list of issues prior to reporting (LOIPR). The Committee on Migrant Workers adopted this new working method in 2011, and the Human Rights Committee adopted its first LOIPR at its 103rd session, in October 2011. 5. The Committee on Migrant Workers adopted a procedure for examining States party reports according to a fixed schedule, based on the new LOIPR procedure for periodic reports, the regular reporting procedure for initial reports, as well as with regard to States parties which have not accepted the LOIPR procedure. Treaty bodies continued refining the follow-up procedures to concluding observations, decisions on individual communications and visits. The Human Rights Committee adopted a new format for its follow-up report. The Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture adopted a follow-up procedure for reports on visits and established working groups to follow up on visits. 6. In order to assist in the prioritization of issues for the constructive dialogue and to keep replies as concise as possible, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women decided that the list of issues should contain no more than 20 questions, and each question should contain no more than three issues. Based on previous practice, the Committee decided to establish a pilot project, during the 51st and 52nd sessions, in the 3