A/HRC/37/21 United Nations General Assembly Distr.: General 27 December 2017 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-seventh session 26 February–23 March 2018 Agenda item 2 Annual report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and reports of the Office of the High Commissioner and the Secretary-General Measures taken to implement Human Rights Council resolution 9/8 and obstacles to its implementation, including recommendations for further improving the effectiveness of, harmonizing and reforming the treaty body system Report of the Secretary-General 1. In its resolution 9/8, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to report annually to the Council 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. The present report is submitted pursuant to that request. 2. In its resolution 68/268, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to submit to the Assembly, on a biennial basis, a comprehensive report on the status of the human rights treaty body system and the progress achieved by the human rights treaty bodies in realizing greater efficiency and effectiveness in their work, including the number of reports submitted and reviewed by the committees, the visits undertaken and the individual communications received and reviewed, where applicable, the state of the backlog, capacity-building efforts and results achieved, as well as information on the situation in terms of ratifications, increased reporting and the allocation of meeting time and proposals on measures, including on the basis of information and observations from Member States, to enhance the engagement of all States parties in the dialogue with the treaty bodies. The first report of the Secretary-General prepared pursuant to resolution 68/268 was submitted to the Assembly at its seventy-first session (A/71/118).1 The second report of the Secretary-General will be submitted to the Assembly at its seventy-third session. A note verbale soliciting information and observations from Member States was therefore dispatched on 4 December 2017 and posted on the website of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. 2 1 2 The 20 statistical annexes discussed in the report of the Secretary-General are available from www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRTD/Pages/TBStrengthening.aspx. See www.ohchr.org/EN/HRBodies/HRTD/Pages/TBStrengthening.aspx. Replies to the note verbale will be made available on the website. GE.17-23438(E) 