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be facilitated by making the list available in advance of the Committee’s
session. In order to improve the dialogue that the Committee seeks, it
strongly urges each State party to provide in writing its replies to the
list of issues and to do so sufficiently in advance of the session at
which its report will be considered to enable the replies to be
translated and made available to all members of the Committee."
30.
In addition to the task of formulating the lists of questions, the
pre-sessional working group is also entrusted with a variety of other tasks
designed to facilitate the work of the Committee as a whole. These have in
the past included: discussing the most appropriate allocation of time for the
consideration of each State report; considering the issue of how best to
respond to supplementary reports containing additional information; examining
draft general comments; considering how best to structure the day of general
discussion; and other relevant matters.
2.
Presentation of the report
31.
In accordance with the established practice of each of the United Nations
human rights treaty monitoring bodies, representatives of the reporting States
are entitled, and indeed are strongly encouraged, to be present at the
meetings of the Committee when their reports are examined. The following
procedure was followed in this regard at the Committee’s preceding sessions.
The representative of the State party was invited to introduce the report by
making brief introductory comments and introducing any written replies, or
otherwise responding orally, to the list of issues drawn up by the
pre-sessional working group. A period of time was then allocated to enable
the representatives of the specialized agencies to provide the Committee with
any observations relevant to the report under consideration. During the same
period, members of the Committee were invited to put questions and
observations to the representative of the State party. A further period of
time, preferably not on the same day, was then allocated to enable the
representative to respond, as precisely as possible, to the questions asked.
It was generally understood that questions that could not adequately be dealt
with in this manner could be the subject of additional information provided to
the Committee in writing.
32.
The final phase of the Committee’s examination of the report consists of
the drafting and adoption of the Committee’s concluding observations. The
Committee has agreed that, as from its tenth session, this task would be
approached in the following way. Within a day or so of the completion of the
dialogue with the State party’s representatives, the Committee will set aside
a 30-minute period, in closed session, to enable its members to express their
preliminary views. The member with primary responsibility in relation to the
State party concerned will then prepare, with the assistance of the
secretariat, a draft set of concluding observations for consideration by the
Committee. The agreed structure of the concluding observations is as follows:
introduction; positive aspects; factors and difficulties impeding the
implementation of the Covenant; principal subjects of concern; and suggestions
and recommendations. At a later stage, the Committee then discusses the
draft, again in private session, with a view to adopting it by consensus.
33.
The concluding observations are formally adopted in public session on the
final day of the session. As soon as this occurs they are considered to have