During the first year of my tenure (starting in September 2008), I had the privilege to meet a significant number of States‘ representatives and with all United Nations human rights treaty bodies. Many States expressed frustration in dealing appropriately with the multiple reporting obligations to which they had committed. In addition to reporting under the international human rights treaties these include for example reporting obligations under the Universal Periodic Review process (UPR) and several ILO conventions. Nearly all treaty bodies expressed deep dissatisfaction at the number of obstacles that limit their capacity to properly discharge their mandate, including lack of meeting time to review the growing number of States parties‘ reports and individual communications and the resulting backlog in their consideration, lack of timely translation of documents and the insufficient number of OHCHR staff supporting their work.

Report by Navi Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights