8.6.1.9 Monitoring and Reporting on Human Rights Situations
Monitoring carried out by an NHRI should be aimed at systematically reviewing and reporting on the priority human rights in the country and be:
- Focused on areas of strategic priority
- Managed (planned, resourced, controlled and evaluated);
- An ongoing, regular activity;
- Usually cyclical;
- Pro-active, while responding to priorities; and
- Aimed at targets or results and, where appropriate, progressive realization of targets.
In Guatemala, the Human Rights Ombudsman (PDH) prepares an extensive annual report and submits it to the National Congress. These reports highlight the monitoring findings of investigations into human rights violations such as gender based violence, the denial of fair trial rights, and denial of access to food, education, and healthcare.
In South Africa, the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) conducts preliminary need assessments through public hearings regarding public interventions and strategies and administrative practices and programmes. The SAHRC then prepares a report based on these assessments for the national parliament.13
Monitoring is not restricted to civil and political rights, of course. In its General Comment No. 10, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights emphasizes that NHRIs should monitor States parties' compliance with ESC rights.14 This addresses the progressive realization of ESC rights: the only way to determine progress is to evaluate and analyse events over time. This underscores the importance of long-term tracking, baseline data, targets and indicators. "Progressively" means that although the benchmark or target can only be reached over time, there has to be measurable progress and effort towards this end. It also means that a government is devoting the "maximum of its available resources" to meeting its obligations. The NHRI can assess this by monitoring government resource commitments through a budget analysis.
Implications for the Establishment Phase: NHRIs should prepare rigorous and regular reports on the human rights performance of the government based on priorities established through strategic planning and carried out through a regular monitoring program.
Specific areas of capacity include:
- Monitoring laws, administrative acts, draft bills, and other proposals on an ongoing basis, to ensure that they are consistent with human rights in general and specific priority areas in particular;
- Undertaking surveys in relation to the state of human rights in order to create a baseline for monitoring;
- Identifying national benchmarks for measuring the progressive realization of economic, social and cultural rights;
- Conducting research and inquiries to ascertain the extent of realisation of rights at the national level;
- Providing reports to pubic authorities and civil society; and
- Monitoring the views and recommendations of bodies in the international system (see the following section).
13 See OHCHR "Guidance Note on National Human Rights Institutions and Transitional Justice" (2008).
14 The role of national human rights institutions in the protection of economic, social and cultural rights. 14/12/98. E/C.12/1998/25, CESCR General Comment 10. (General Comments)