A/HRC/22/21 I. Introduction 1. In its resolution 9/8 on the effective implementation of international human rights instruments, the Human Rights Council requested the Secretary-General to report annually 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 briefly highlights the most recent developments in this regard. II. Activities of the treaty bodies in 2012 2. Pursuant to General Assembly resolution 57/202, the report on the twenty-fourth meeting of the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies (A/67/222), held from 25 to 29 June 2012, was submitted to the Assembly at its sixty-seventh session . Following its decision to meet outside of Geneva every other year, the 2012 meeting of the chairpersons was held in Addis Ababa. At that meeting, the chairpersons, inter alia, adopted a set of guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of human rights treaty bodies. 3. The total number of ratifications of all core human rights instruments stands at 2,139, of which 63 new ratifications were received in 2012. During 2012, human rights treaty bodies held 24 sessions amounting to 80 weeks of meetings in Geneva and New York (each session lasting from one to four weeks), during which 129 State party reports were reviewed in plenary sessions. In 2012, the sessions of the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination were extended by one week to address the backlog of reports awaiting review. As at 3 December 2012, treaty bodies had received a total of 119 State party reports, including 15 common core documents. A total of 291 reports are currently pending consideration. 4. Treaty bodies and the secretariat examined some 11,000 items of correspondence, and more than 130 new individual complaints received by the treaty bodies were registered. The Human Rights Committee, the Committee against Torture, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities examined and adopted final decisions on some 140 communications. They issued more than 52 requests for interim measures of protection in cases where lack of such protection might lead to irreparable harm for the petitioners. They also followed up on more than 100 decisions in which violations of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities had been found. 5. Treaty bodies continued to develop, improve and implement new working methods and, in some cases, amended their rules of procedure. 6. The Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women introduced task forces for the consideration of States party reports, and also adopted a decision to strengthen the role of the country rapporteur regarding the consideration of reports, which includes guidelines on the role of the rapporteur, time management and other relevant issues, as well as a template for the country briefing note to be used by the country rapporteur. 7. The Committee on the Rights of the Child adopted the above-mentioned guidelines on the independence and impartiality of members of human rights treaty bodies at its sixty3