The year 2015 was important for the treaty body system, with expanded sessions and a number of innovations being introduced. This post will focus on the state reporting function. A later post will examine the individual communications decided during the year.Overview
In total, the treaty bodies examined 157 state reports during 2015, which represented a 20% increase over 2014. They met over 89 weeks during the year, which was 16% more than the 77 weeks in 2014. In addition two treaty bodies, the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Child, split a portion of their sessions into dual chambers, permitting a review of more reports.
2014 vs. 2015
Here is a comparison between 2014 and 2015
Item
|
2014
|
2015
|
Comment
|
State reports
|
131
|
157
|
20% increase
|
Total pages of these reports
|
8553
|
9548
|
65 pages/rept in 2014;
61 pages/report in 2015
|
How many were filed late, 2 months or more?
|
78%
|
80%
|
|
How many reports were over the page limit?
|
63%
|
52%
|
|
How many sets of concluding recommendations were issued?
|
131
|
157
|
20% increase
|
How many pages of recommendations?
|
1400
|
1841
|
Concluding recommendations averaged 10 pages per report in
2014 & 11.7 pages per report in 2015
|
How many total recommendations were included in the treaty
body reports?
|
6700
|
8725
|
There were an average of 51 recommendations per report in
2014, and 55 recommendations in 2015
|
Footnotes:
1. Note that my counting of total numbers of recommendations is somewhat subjective -- it takes into account sub item structures. It is not simply a counting of numbered paragraphs, since some of these numbered recommendations actually contain many sub-items which really constitute separate, distinct programmatic recommendations by the Committee.
2. The above figures do not include reports or recommendations from the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture (SPT), since the working methodology of that treaty body is unique and not comparable to the procedures in the other committees.
Breakout by Committee
Here is the breakout of these figures by Committee (excluding SPT):
Rept pages
|
Late reports
|
Over pp limit
|
CO pages
|
CO # recs
|
No. of reports
|
Rept ave pages
|
CO averages
|
|
CCPR
|
1249
|
75%
|
65%
|
166
|
604
|
20
|
62.5
|
8.3 pp/30 recs
|
CESC
|
1230
|
100%
|
82%
|
178
|
817
|
17
|
72.4
|
10.5 pp/48 recs
|
CEDAW
|
1543
|
70%
|
67%
|
346
|
1734
|
27
|
57.1
|
12.8 pp/64 recs
|
CAT
|
773
|
63%
|
32%
|
172
|
798
|
19
|
40.7
|
9.1 pp/42 recs
|
CERD
|
778
|
85%
|
45%
|
177
|
703
|
20
|
38.9
|
8.9 pp/35 recs
|
CRPD
|
848
|
76%
|
21%
|
140
|
614
|
14
|
60.6
|
10 pp/44 recs
|
CRC
|
2698
|
79%
|
68%
|
551
|
3041
|
28
|
96.4
|
19.7 pp/109 recs
|
CMW
|
221
|
100%
|
0
|
69
|
282
|
7
|
31.6
|
9.9 pp/40 recs
|
CED
|
208
|
100%
|
0
|
42
|
132
|
5
|
41.6
|
84. pp/26 recs
|
TOTALS
|
9548
|
78%
|
52%
|
1841
|
8725
|
157
|
60.8
|
11.7 pp/56 recs
|
Footnotes:
1. A state report was counted as late if it was submitted 2 months or more after the deadline
2. A state report was counted as over the page limit if it was 2 pages or more over the relevant guidelines
3. Note that all reports reviewed by three of these committees were submitted late
4. Note that CRC had by far the most report pages and average pages per report that they reviewed, and they issued the most concluding observations (recommendations) and the most average recommendations per report
5. CO is an abbreviation for concluding observations. Recs = recommendations (which are a part of the COs)
Session weeks
Another interesting metric is how many weeks each treaty body is meeting now during the year, including regular sessions and in pre-sessional working groups (pswg).
System profile
Finally here is a snapshot of the system as a whole:
Number of experts
|
172 experts from 85 different countries
|
New ratifications
|
53 (2.4% increase from 2014)
|
Number of women members of the treaty bodies
|
70 (40%) but this drops to 32% if CEDAW is removed (CEDAW
has 22 of 23 women members)
|
Individual decisions
|
159 (an 11% increase from 2014)
|
New general comments
|
Only 1 this year (CEDAW 33 on women’s access to justice)
|
New instruments that came into force in 2015
|
none
|
New treaty body guidelines
|
Guidelines on reprisals adopted by the Treaty Body chairs
in June 2015
|
In addition, a number of enhancements were made to follow up procedures by several of the treaty bodies. Discussions continue on the implementation of other procedures to strengthen the treaty body system. The backlog of state reports waiting to be reviewed has diminished somewhat, but there is no statistical data available that quantifies this.
Conclusion
In sum, 2015 seemed to be a good year for the treaty body system, especially in the implementation of some improvements, the increase in workload and outputs, and the consideration of hopefully other future enhancements to the system. Much is still needed to be done in order to make the treaty body system truly responsive to rights holders and victims, but the signs would seem to be positive.
