APT General Guidelines
Alternative reporting to the Committee against Torture
January 2013
2. Alternative reports – general guidelines
As explained above, alternative reporting is a useful way for NGOs to improve the
effectiveness of the UN treaty reporting process and also ensure that their issues
regarding implementation of the concerned treaty are addressed. NGOs should
comment on the information in the most recent State Party report and, as
information presented to the CAT is often incomplete, NGOs should submit
additional information to the CAT to enable it to conduct a more complete analysis
and understand relevant issues from a variety of perspectives.
The following drafting guidelines are not exhaustive. However, while we
recommend that all of the guidelines should be incorporated in the shadow report,
some might require more emphasis than others depending on the issues the NGO
intends to focus on.
a. Review Committee and State Party reports
Consider the recommendations made by the CAT during its last review, and
the information already submitted by the State Party. How has the State
fulfilled these recommendations, or lived up to its own pledges? Obtaining
copies of previous and current State reports of your country, along with
previous concluding observations, recommendations, LOIs and LOIPRs
issued by the CAT and related treaty bodies will help identify what
information and issues should be included and what questions the CAT
should be asking to the State.
b. Examine the UNCAT and general comments of the Committee
The Committee will only examine information submitted by NGOs that is
within the purview of its jurisdiction. Any information that is not relevant to
the implementation of the Convention will not be used. For this purpose, it is
useful to study the treaty provisions and the Committee’s general comments
in detail, along with any reservations or declarations made by your country
to fully understand its obligations.
c. Language of the report
NGO reports are not translated and, therefore, must be in at least one of the
official languages of the UN (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and
Spanish). If multiple translations cannot be provided, you should submit the
report in English. This will ensure the widest circulation since a majority of
Committee members use English as their working language.
d. All shadow reports are published
All information provided by NGOs is published on the CAT website once
received by the Committee. For this reason, names of victims or their families
must not be used without their express consent.
e. Timelines for submission
NGOs should plan the preparation of the shadow report in advance and
according to the submission deadlines and practices set by the Committee.
Deadlines are set according to the following criteria:
i. Reports to help the Committee with the adoption of LOIs and LOIPRs
should be submitted 10 weeks before the opening of the session at
which the list is due to be adopted.
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