Preventing Torture An Operational Guide for National Human Rights Institutions Treaty Body Treaty Examination of reports Individual complaints Committee on the Rights of the Child Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) Yes No Committee on Migrant Workers International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families (1990) Yes31 Article 77 Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment (2002) No No Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006) Yes Optional Protocol Committee on Enforced Disappearances32 International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances (2006) Yes Article 31 1.1. Role of NHRIs in the treaty body reporting procedure 31 32 Each treaty establishes a reporting procedure which requires States parties to regularly present a report on their compliance with, and implementation of, their treaty obligations. Some treaty bodies have presession meetings during which they adopt a list of questions that the State will be required to answer. The report is then examined during a public session of the treaty body, in the presence of a delegation of the State party, which considers all information provided by the State and information received from other sources. Based on this process, treaty bodies adopt concluding observations, which refer to the positive aspects of the State’s implementation and areas where they recommend the State to take further action. 1.1.1. Pre-reporting procedure NHRIs can play an important role in the pre-reporting process. In particular they can discuss the reporting process with their Government and help ensure that the State’s report is submitted on time. The Uganda Human Rights Commission included in previous annual reports a list of overdue reports to United Nations treaty bodies. As this backlog was the result of a lack of Government resources, the Commission, OHCHR and UNDP worked cooperatively with the authorities to build their capacity to prepare the reports. 1.1.2. Reporting procedure The role of NHRIs in the reporting procedure can differ from one treaty body to another. However, as a minimum, NHRIs can: • submit their own independent report on the State’s compliance with, and implementation of, the treaty • attend the session when the State reports to the treaty body. 31 The individual complaints procedure has not yet been accepted by a sufficient number of States Parties to make it operational (February 2010). 32 This Committee has not yet been established (February 2010). 64 | Chapter 7: Cooperating with international mechanisms