Nongovernmental organizations play an important role in human rights monitoring by providing real examples and credible information about human rights violations to international and regional human rights monitors.
Activists and advocates are the experts on the real problems faced by their constituencies: unions know the struggles faced by their workers, immigration attorneys know the barriers faced by immigrants in detention, mental health service providers know the failings of the health care delivery system. Many of these systemic problems are human rights violations.
Translating the on-the-ground expertise of advocates and activists into the human rights framework is not complicated. By becoming familiar with the basic human rights framework, activists and advocates can begin to see problems through the human rights lens.
Step 1: Documenting Human Rights Violations provides the tools activists and advocates need to understand how their issues fit within the human rights framework.
The Human Rights Toolkit is an easy-to-understand overview of the international human rights framework.
Identifying Human Rights Violations: The Treaties explains the legal basis of human rights and provides links to treaties and other key information.
Identifying Human Rights Violations: Framing the Issues helps draw the connection between the human rights written in the treaties and the day-to-day practices which violate those rights.
The Best Practices section identifies key considerations for organizations when engaging in human rights factfinding.