Related materials CAT Guidelines for reporting by States Parties All UN human rights treaty bodies, including the Committee against Torture, have adopted treaty-specific reporting guidelines to assist States parties in the preparation of initial and periodic reports. Following a recommendation by the Inter-Committee Meeting of the human rights treaty bodies in 2008, all treaty bodies are encouraged to adopt their revised guidelines by the end of 2009. As part of efforts to harmonize treaty reporting, it also reiterated that States Parties should use the guidelines on a common core document and treaty-specific document when submitting a report to any human rights treaty body. The Committee attaches great importance to the inclusion in the State reports of information related to the de facto implementation of the Convention as well as factors and difficulties affecting such implementation. The Committee welcomes the involvement of national institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights (NHRIs) and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in the process of consultations leading to the preparation of reports by Governments. The Committee also encourages NHRIs and NGOs to directly provide information on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention at the national level (see section VIII below). Reports under the revised reporting system will consist of two parts: the common core document and the treaty‑specific document. In accordance with the different periodicity requirements of treaties, submission of these reports under different treaties may not be due at the same time. However, States could coordinate the preparation of their reports in consultation with the relevant treaty bodies with a view to submitting their reports not only in a timely manner, but with as little time lag between the different reports as possible. This will ensure that States receive the full benefit of submitting information required by several treaty bodies in a common core document. States can benefit from technical assistance from the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in collaboration with the Division for the Advancement of Women (DAW), and from relevant United Nations agencies. 23

Select target paragraph3