Reform of the UN Human Rights Treaty System - Reports - Report: Universality at the Crossroads by: Professor A.F. Bayefsky - Annex 1: Statistical Analysis of the UN Human Rights Treaty System - The Time Necessary to Consider State Reports

Annex 1

Section A: THE TIME NECESSARY TO CONSIDER STATE REPORTS

1.Clearing Time in Practice

2.Clearing Time in Theory

3.Calculating the Clearing Time in Theory and in Practice

4.Number of Treaty Body Meetings Per Year

5.Number of Reports Considered Per Session

6.Number of Reports Considered in a Year

7.Time Currently Taken by Treaty Bodies to Consider Reports

8.Date To Which Reports Have Been Scheduled

Clearing time in Practice = The time necessary to consider reports if one report submitted satisfies all outstanding reporting obligations, plus the time to consider reports currently backlogged.

Clearing time in Practice = The time necessary to consider reports if one report submitted satisfies all outstanding reporting obligations, plus the time to consider reports currently backlogged.

Calculating the Clearing Time in Theory and in Practice

	Number of reports overdue	Number of reports backlogged (submitted but not considered)****	Number of states parties with overdue reports or backlogged reports	Number of reports considered per year
CERD	420*	15	135	24
CCPR	129*	20	98	14
CESCR	162**	27	124	17
CEDAW	231*	42	143	15
CAT	105*	10	80	15
CRC	145***	60	163	27

* based on 2000 annual reports (CERD A/55/18, 25 August 2000; CCPR A/55/40 (Vol. 1), 28 July 2000; CEDAW A/55/38, 30 June 2000; CAT A/55/44, 19 May 2000)

** based on HRI/GEN/4 (31 March 2000)

*** based on 2000 June sessional report (CRC/C/97, 2 June 2000)

**** summer/fall 2000

Number of Treaty Body Meetings Per Year

2000 Annual Reports

	Pre-sessional weeks	In session weeks	TOTAL WEEKS
CERD	0	7 (6 in 2001)	7
HRC	3	9	12
CESCR	3	9	12
CEDAW	2	6	8
CAT	0	5	5
CRC	3	9	12
TOTAL	11	45	56

Number of Reports Considered Per Session

2000 Annual Reports

CERD	HRC	CESCR	CEDAW	CAT	CRC
11 - 13	4 - 6	5 - 7	7 - 8	7 - 8	9

Number of Reports Considered in a Year

2000 Annual Reports

CERD	HRC	CESCR	CEDAW	CAT	CRC
24	14	10 (additional meeting in 2000 considered a further 7 reports - making the rate 17 per year)	15	15	27

Time Currently Taken by Treaty Bodies to Consider Reports

2000 Annual Reports

Committee	Initial Reports	Periodic Reports
CERD	5 hours	5 hours
CCPR	7.5 hours	6 hours
CESCR	9 hours	9.5 hours
CEDAW	7 hours	4.5 hours
CAT	6.75 hours	6 hours
CRC	6.5 hours	6 hours

¹ In the year 2000, this includes five states parties which had submitted more than one complete report. The first report had not been considered by the time the next report was due and submitted, and the Committee considered the two reports at the same time. This reduced the amount of time that the Committee, on average, spent on the consideration of reports. For the remaining reports which were considered on their own, the average time spent by the Committee was nine hours for initial reports and six hours for periodic reports.

Date To Which Reports Have Been Scheduled

as of fall 2000

CERD	HRC	CESCR	CEDAW	CAT	CRC
March 2001 (one session in advance)	October 2001 (three sessions in advance)	May 2001 (two sessions in advance)	January 2002 (three sessions in advance)	April 2001 (one session in advance)	January 2003 (seven sessions in advance)