By becoming parties to the Convention, States commit to providing the Committee with periodic reports on the steps they have taken to implement it (art. 35). State parties shall submit their initial reports within two years after the Convention's entry into force for them. Subsequent reports must be submitted at least every four years thereafter and further whenever the Committee requests them to do so.
The Committee engages in a constructive dialogue with State parties and issues concluding observations and recommendations for follow-up action to improve and strengthen the Convention's implementation. Other interested parties, such as national human rights institutions and civil society organizations, can also be part of this dialogue. DPOs for example can submit alternative reports to the Committee. Alternative reports can be very valuable, as they provide a civil society perspective on implementation and thus give the Committee a fuller view of the status of the Convention's implementation.
The Committee may also hold days of general discussion, open to the public, during which it discusses issues of general interest arising from the Convention. The Committee has already held days of discussion on legal capacity and accessibility and a half day of discussion on women and girls with disabilities.
The Committee issues general comments on specific provisions in the Convention or on specific issues. These are authoritative statements that clarify issues arising from the implementation of the Convention. General comments have been particularly important in the context of other treaty bodies, as they provide a summary guide for the implementation of specific treaty provisions. For example, the general comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have had a significant impact at the national level, fleshing out the Covenant's provisions, which are quite general. National courts in several jurisdictions on different continents have referred to these general comments as a means of applying the Covenant to individual cases.