In 2001, the Committee established the position of Special Rapporteur for follow-up to concluding observations. In almost all concluding observations, in the last paragraph containing conclusions, the Committee identifies a limited list of priority issues. He then invites the State party to provide information on the measures it has taken to address these problems no later than one year later. This follow-up information is translated and made publicly available in the treaty body database of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (http://www.unhchr.ch/tbs/doc.nsf ). Along with any information that may be obtained from other sources, the Special Rapporteur, with the assistance of the Committee's secretariat, evaluates the information on follow-up and makes a recommendation to the Committee on any further measures that seem appropriate. After that, the Committee determines the time to discuss the conclusions of the Special Rapporteur and decides on follow-up measures. These solutions are very flexible and can range from changing the timing of the submission of the State party's next periodic report to requesting additional information and instructing the Special Rapporteur to hold a meeting with representatives of the State party on a specific issue. If the State does not provide information on follow-up, the Special Rapporteur meets with its representatives to further discuss the problem. If the State does not respond to the Committee's request after that, this fact is reflected in the Committee's annual report to the General Assembly.
The initial reaction of States parties to the follow-up procedure of the reporting process has been very encouraging.
The Committee's follow-up procedure complements and guides the efforts of States parties and civil society in the period following the adoption of concluding observations. The main task of the Committee is primarily to encourage a balanced and comprehensive public discussion of its views, and for this reason it always requests States parties to ensure the dissemination of concluding observations. If necessary, they may need to be translated into one or more local languages. The discussion of the concluding observations in the National Parliament is also a constructive method of promoting them and stimulating discussion on the conclusions and recommendations of the Committee. As a result of these discussions, government departments, also in consultation with civil society and other relevant actors, are given every opportunity to assess the need or expediency of changing legislation, policies and practices in order to implement and monitor concluding observations, including making proposals for legislative changes as they are implemented. These responses at the national level form the basis for a future report, which, in the opinion of the Committee, the best method is to carefully take into account the measures taken in each area in the framework of the implementation of the previous concluding observations.