A/HRC/15/17
Commissioner, and by putting in place mechanisms to strengthen cross-divisional
coordination and monitor the timeliness of reports.
13.
A major challenge to the timely submission of reports remains the need to reconcile
the annual programme of work of the Council with the 10-week rule prescribed by the
General Assembly. In this respect, it is noted that the submission rate is generally highest
for the sessions held in March, probably owing to the 6-month gap between sessions. Late
submission is for example unavoidable in the case of reports requested at one session to be
submitted for the next, wherein deadlines for submission expire even before the ongoing
session is over. Likewise, the timing of meetings of certain subsidiary bodies renders it
impossible for the reports thereon to be submitted within deadlines for the Council session
at which they are to be considered.
14.
To address the above challenge, OHCHR is working closely with the Division of
Conference Management on a more comprehensive approach to the planning of the
calendar of meetings and documentation.
15.
In the most recent report of the Secretary-General on the pattern of conferences, the
Department for General Assembly and Conference Management submitted a document for
consideration by the Assembly consolidating the existing guidelines on word and page
limits and clarifying the number of words per page and pages per document for reports,
including all documents submitted by the Secretariat directly and on behalf of
intergovernmental bodies (A/65/122, annex VIII). This addressed the fourth OIOS
recommendation, on improving the ability of the Secretariat to support the requirements of
the Council.
16.
The fifth and final recommendation of OIOS directed the Division of Conference
Management, in cooperation with OHCHR, to improve coordination of activities that have
an impact on the efficient provision of conferencing support to the Council by designating
focal points, holding regular meetings and conducting outreach activities. In this regard, it
is noted that the President of the Council, the Bureau and the secretariat of the Council
maintain close coordination with the Department for General Assembly and Conference
Management and the Division of Conference Management in the planning of Council
activities and work, and regular meetings are held at the working and senior levels between
OHCHR and the Division. Following a meeting between the Under-Secretary-General for
General Assembly and Conference Management, the President and the Bureau of the
Council to discuss the servicing of the Council by the Division, a tripartite task force was
established to examine the problems relevant to the work of the Council. The task force,
which comprised representatives from the Office of the President, OHCHR and the
Division of Conference Management, identified as major challenges the steadily increasing
servicing requirements of the Council. These included in particular the increasing number
of new mandates that have to be serviced from “within existing resources” and the need to
address the entire spectrum of servicing requirements, ranging from conference servicing,
administration and security to webcasting.
17.
The above-mentioned coordinating body has jointly produced documentation
endorsing the mutual and specific requirements to support the Council and its mechanisms,
and is similarly taking action to address issues of broader significance relating to standards
of accessibility for universal participation by persons with disabilities in the Council’s
proceedings. The close cooperation engendered by the task force has led to a number of
solutions to the issues of the processing of universal periodic review reports, namely, the
issuance of outstanding reports and the establishment of word limits and joint planning
efforts, as a result of which almost all review reports are submitted, translated and
processed in a timely manner. The task force also meets to review the status of compliance
with planning targets and to discuss measures to address potential difficulties before they
reach Member States. In this regard, responsible officers of the Division of Conference
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