A/HRC/16/32
10.
From 28 to 30 June 2010, the eleventh inter-committee meeting of the human rights
treaty bodies was held in Geneva. Two representatives of each treaty body were invited.
The inter-committee meeting had on its agenda the following issue: preparation and
analysis as a basis for lists of issues, including lists of issues prior to reporting
(targeted/focused reports), taking into account the application of the common core
document and the treaty-specific reporting guidelines. The full report of the meeting and
the report of the chairs of human rights treaty bodies on their twenty-second meeting are
available in document A/65/190.
11.
The significant growth of the treaty body system has prompted the High
Commissioner for Human Rights to request all stakeholders to re-think the future of treaty
bodies with innovative and creative ideas. On 14 September 2009, the High Commissioner
in her statement to the Human Rights Council, inter alia, underscored the importance of the
treaty bodies, both through their reporting and individual complaints mechanisms, as well
as through the universal periodic review process. She highlighted that the overall success of
the human rights protection system, marked by the increase in the number of human rights
instruments and corresponding monitoring bodies, together with greater compliance by
States parties with reporting obligations, posed greater demands on the treaty bodies and
her Office. She stated that, while that success was most welcome and encouraging, States
parties should accede to human rights treaties and other stakeholders to initiate a process of
reflection on how to streamline and strengthen the treaty body system to achieve better
coordination among these mechanisms and in their interaction with special procedures and
the universal periodic review. The High Commissioner made a similar appeal before the
General Assembly on 21 October 2009.
12.
A number of consultations organized by stakeholders as a direct response to the
High Commissioner’s call have taken place and resulted in the adoption of statements
which include various proposals to strengthen and streamline the treaty body system. These
meetings were organized in Dublin in November 2009, for treaty body members, at the
initiative of the University of Nottingham, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland; in Marrakesh in June 2010, for national human rights institutions, at the initiative
of the Advisory Council on Human Rights of Morocco, and in Poznan, Poland, in
September 2010, for treaty bodies chairs, hosted by the University of Poznan and attended
by five chairs. Furthermore, one year after the Dublin Statement, 21 non-governmental
organizations have made a written submission to the High Commissioner, in November
2010, including several proposals to strengthen the treaty body system. States parties will
be invited by the High Commissioner and the chairpersons of the treaty bodies to a
technical expert consultation in the spring of 2011.
13.
A number of other consultations organized by stakeholders, such as United Nations
entities and civil society actors, are also planned. In addition, OHCHR is organizing a series
of one-day consultations for treaty body members near Geneva during their respective
sessions. These consultations aim at providing committee experts with space for creative
thinking to strengthen and streamline their methods of work and reflect on the future of the
treaty body system. They also allow committee members to discuss in advance the agenda
items of the inter-committee meeting. When possible the consultations will bring together
two committees which sessions overlap. Further to requests for additional meeting time in
2010,1 the General Assembly requested in a number of resolutions that the SecretaryGeneral presents concrete and tailored proposals on the human rights treaty bodies, to
improve their effectiveness and to identify efficiencies in their working methods and
1
4
For further information, see the note by the Secretary-General on evaluation of the use of additional
meeting time by the human rights treaty bodies (A/65/317).
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