A/HRC/15/38 communications and use the early warning and urgent action procedures that have been established under the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. 40. Treaty bodies also invite NGOs to provide reports containing country-specific information on States parties whose reports are due for consideration, as well as to the country task forces in charge of the lists of issues. NGOs can participate in the pre-sessional meetings of several committees at which the list of issues on country reports is being elaborated. 41. Various committees have found it important to explicitly mention indigenous peoples and their rights in their general comments or recommendations. For example, the Committee on Social, Cultural and Economic Rights has mentioned the rights of indigenous peoples in a number of general comments, most recently in its general comment No. 21 on the right of everyone to take part in cultural life. The Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination issued in 1997 general recommendation No. 23 on indigenous peoples and the Committee on the Rights of the Child issued in 2009 its general comment No. 11 on indigenous children and their rights under the Convention. In general, treaty bodies encourage NGOs to provide contributions on general recommendations being drafted and make use of these general recommendations in their advocacy efforts. 42. Several committees hold thematic discussions or days of general discussions that deal with issues covered by their mandates, some of which include indigenous issues. Indigenous organizations can and have assisted committees by sending background documents on the chosen topic for the discussion and by actively participating in the debates with indigenous experts. The Committee on the Rights of the Child held a general discussion day on the rights of indigenous children in October 2003, in close cooperation with the Special Rapporteur and the Permanent Forum: various indigenous organizations contributed to the final recommendations adopted by the Committee. Indigenous representatives have on several occasions also used individual communication procedures, especially under the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. 43. Although a number of indigenous organizations have actively used the treaty body system, there have been a number of calls to raise further awareness and encourage wider use of treaty bodies. Further awareness-raising and opportunities to approach treaty bodies (as well as special procedures) could also reduce the number of cases where indigenous representatives raise alleged human rights violations before bodies that have no mandate to act upon individual cases. With an expanded mandate, the Board of Trustees could also support further substantive and technical training for indigenous peoples. These could include information on the drafting process of alternative reports or the submission of individual complaints. Financial assistance to attend the sessions of the committees would help to avoid a situation whereby only indigenous peoples with solid financial resources or those that live close to the venue of the meeting can meet with these organs. In this way, the expansion could help to diversify the information submitted to the committees. 44. If the mandate of the Fund is extended by the General Assembly to cover treaty bodies, indigenous communities could receive support to attend the sessions of the relevant Committees as well as the pre-sessional working groups where the list of issues are being discussed and agreed upon. During their attendance they can voice their concerns at the NGO hearings, organize side events and attend lunchtime briefings. As treaty bodies normally establish their agenda and timetables about two sessions beforehand (a year in advance), there would be adequate time for indigenous peoples and NGOs to prepare and for the Fund to receive and consider applications, select beneficiaries and allocate grants. 45. While the extension of the mandate would require revisiting certain working methods, the basic approval procedure would remain intact. After reviewing the 10