3. Treaty bodies 3.1 Introduction The main human rights treaties discussed in section 2 provide for a committee to monitor state compliance with the provisions of the treaty.7 The committees, also known as treaty bodies, are composed of human rights experts from different states. These experts are independent and do not act as representatives of their states. However, they are nominated by their governments and elected by states party to the treaty; some are more independent-minded than others. Most of the committees meet in Geneva, although the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) meets in New York, and the Human Rights Committee (HRC) meets in Geneva and New York. Each committee meets either two or three times a year and the sessions last three to four weeks. The committees do not all function identically; however, many of their working practices are similar. For a detailed comparison of how the committees function see http://www.bayefsky.com/getfile.php/id/9232. Their openness to NGO contributions also varies. Each committee has a secretariat to assist its work. NGOs can contact the secretariats for more information. In the case of the CRC, you can contact the NGO Group for the Convention on the Rights of the Child, a coalition of international NGOs that works to facilitate the implementation of the Convention and to assist national NGOs to work with the committee. The Anti-Racism Information Service (ARIS) provides assistance to NGOs regarding CERD. See Annex 6.1 for contact details of all these organizations. The main activities of the treaty bodies are: • reviewing state reports; • interpreting the treaty; • considering individual complaints; and • thematic/general discussions. linking the international to the national and grassroots levels in order to ensure improvements in the lives of minorities. Not all committees perform all of the functions listed above. The table on the following page provides a comparison of the main treaty bodies. 3.2 State reporting NGO involvement in all these activities is very important and strengthens the work of the committees. ECOSOC status is not required; however, it can be useful in facilitating access to the committees and enhancing the credibility of your work. The most important fact for NGOs to remember is that the work of the committees is unlikely to have a direct impact domestically without NGOs to pressure the government and publicize issues raised by or in the committees. NGOs therefore play a crucial role in States parties to human rights treaties are obliged to submit reports to the committees. In the state reports, governments are expected to list all legislative, administrative, judicial and other measures that they have taken for the promotion and protection of the rights provided for in the treaty, including minority rights. The frequency of submission of the reports differs according to treaty requirements (between two and five years). The reports are examined by committee members in public (open) meetings. Representatives of the reporting state are generally present to make additional comments and answer questions from committee members. NGOs and the public may attend these meetings as observers; some committees have provisions for NGOs to address them at a particular time. The treaty body experts evaluate the information presented in the reports and issue a document that highlights positive developments, raises concerns and makes recommendations to the states on measures they should take in order to comply with their treaty obligations. These Concluding Observations on state reports are published at the end of the committee session and are available on the OHCHR website. They are also included in the annual reports of the treaty bodies to the General Assembly, except for the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), which submits its annual report to the ECOSOC. The state report is the main document used by the committees. Ideally, NGOs would be consulted in the process of the government preparing the report; however, this does not always happen and governments often submit idealized descriptions of the human rights situation in their countries; they tend to avoid disclosing problems and shortcomings. In order to assess the accuracy of state reports, committee members can consider information from other sources. This is not without controversy. It is now generally accepted that treaty bodies will use official documents, including from other UN agencies and from UN Charterbased human rights mechanisms. (See section 4.) The use 10 MINORITY RIGHTS: A GUIDE TO UNITED NATIONS PROCEDURES AND INSTITUTIONS