A/HRC/4/81
page 3
6.
Additional resources were provided to the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC),
following the adoption by the General Assembly of its resolution 59/261 welcoming the proposal
of the Committee to work in two chambers as an exceptional and temporary measure to eliminate
the backlog of reports. The Committee considered States parties reports in two parallel
chambers during its three sessions in 2006. In his oral report to the General Assembly in
October 2006, the Chairperson of the Committee informed the Assembly that this new working
method had been very effective in achieving its purpose, that the Committee is considering
working in two chambers if a report-backlog develops, and that it may submit proposals to that
effect to the sixty-second session of the Assembly in 2007.
7.
At its thirty-fifth session held from 7 to 25 November 2005, the Committee against
Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (CAT) decided to
substitute the pre-sessional working group with a meeting of the full Committee to enable the
full Committee to meet in plenary for two sessions of three weeks in 2006, in order to allow the
Committee to consider additional reports to address the growing backlog of State party reports
for consideration (A/61/44, para. 10).
8.
Committees have continued to develop their working relationships with NHRIs during
the reporting period. In June 2006, the fifth ICM met with a representative of the International
Coordinating Committee of National Human Rights Institutions (ICC). The participants of the
fifth ICM reiterated the recommendation of the fourth ICM that engagement with NHRIs
should continue in a manner that reflected their necessary independence from Governments.
Representatives of NHRIs, treaty bodies and civil society participated in the International
Roundtable on the Role of National Human Rights Institutions in the Treaty Body Process which
was held in Berlin, Germany on 23 and 24 November 2006 and co-organized by the German
Institute for Human Rights, the Danish Institute for Human Rights and OHCHR. Participants
adopted a draft harmonized approach for treaty body engagement with NHRIs to be submitted
for the consideration of the sixth ICM in June 2007.
9.
The treaty bodies continued their practice of meeting informally with States parties to
discuss working methods and other matters of mutual interest. A meeting with States
parties is part of the agenda of the annual meeting of chairpersons of human rights treaty bodies
and the Human Rights Committee (HRC) convened its fourth meeting with States parties on
27 October 2006 during its eighty-eighth session in October and November 2006. CRC met with
States parties on 17 January 2006 during its forty-first session in January 2006.
Treaty body reform
10.
Treaty bodies have discussed the High Commissioner’s proposal for a unified standing
treaty body in the Plan of Action and the concept paper on the proposal (HRI/MC/2006/2).
OHCHR organized briefings for States parties, NGOs and others on the concept paper where
emphasis was placed on the importance of continuing to streamline reporting guidelines and the
harmonization of working methods. Treaty body members and others raised issues, including
concerns that the establishment of a unified body could result in a loss of specificity, and noted
that many legal issues would need to be discussed in further detail.
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