Human Rights Monitoring

This revised and updated collection is intended to serve as a thematic textbook on the institutions and procedures devoted to the national implementation of human rights and to the international monitoring of State performance. Albeit not exhaustive, the coverage extends to most of the monitoring instances available at intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations: complaints, fact-finding and investigative procedures, State reporting obligations, good offices actions, dialogue functions, human rights education, dissemination of human rights information, letter campaigns, and technical co-operation. The target audience of the book is students of international human rights law, but the book can also serve as a guide for both officials and activists involved in the realization of human rights.The success of the first edition has allowed for this second edition. It demonstrates that there is a important demand for literature with a focus on human rights monitoring and follow-up activities.

The collection aims to inspire readers with new approaches to implementing and monitoring the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, to make rights 'real' in children's lives.

This book explores the human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe: the Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, the European Committee of Social Rights, the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance. The book will look at each mechanism in turn and consider a number of issues including: at the role and procedures; its effectiveness in terms of monitoring ands ensuring its findings are implemented; its level of cooperation with other international actors including other organs of the Council of Europe, UN and EU bodies, NGOs and national human rights institutions and ombudsmen; its relationship with the European Court of Human Rights; and whether human rights indicators would be useful in improving its monitoring. Each chapter will be written by an expert in the field. The introduction to the volume will outline the common features and purposes of these mechanisms as well as key questions to be addressed in the following chapters, while the conclusion will provide an evaluation of their effectiveness and consider future perspectives.

The 2006 United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has provided a significant catalyst and a legal mandate for disability rights monitoring, and discussions on disability rights are breaking new ground across disciplines. Disability, Rights Monitoring, and Social Change is an important and timely collection that explores and challenges the ways in which disability rights are monitored. The contributors to this edited volume range from grassroots activists to international scholars and United Nations advisors. The chapters address the current theoretical, methodological, and practical issues surrounding disability rights monitoring and offer a detailed look at law and policy reforms, best practices, and holistic methods. This unique compilation crosses the divide between the global South and North and explores the complex issues of intersectionality that arise for women with disabilities, Indigenous peoples with disabilities, and people with diverse disabilities. Its participatory methodology-calling for the inclusion of people with disabilities in processes that involve them-and its local and international perspective make this book a critical contribution to the fields of rights monitoring and disability studies. Appropriate for courses on disability, human rights, social justice, policy, and advocacy, this volume serves as a guide and learning tool for anyone interested in disability rights monitoring and, more generally, the effective practice of monitoring human rights.

E: Looking at the future.

This manual is one component of a two-part package of materials for training on human rights monitoring for UN human rights officers and other human rights monitors. This training manual provides practical guidance principally for the conduct of human rights monitoring in United Nations field operations, but it may also be useful to other human rights monitors. The two components of the package are designed to complement each other and, taken together, provide the basis for the conduct of programmes for human rights officers in field operations and for other human rights monitors, under the approach developed by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

The aim of this publication is to assist policymakers and development officials in enabling a more participatory role for women in women in development, sustainable development, and environmental management (WED), and to create awareness of the multisectoral and multidisciplinary linkages between WED. The introduction summarizes mandates from the Rio Declaration and Agenda 21, the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies, and Principle 20 of the Rio Declaration on Strengthening Women's Role. The concept of development changed from the 1950s and 1960s focus on gross economic issues. By the 1970s, the focus shifted to the satisfaction of basic needs. Women's role in the development process was recognized at Mexico's 1975 UN Conference on Women and Development in the Women's Decade (1976-85), and the 1985 Conference in Nairobi. The links between WED are now acknowledged. The manual includes 4 modules. The first unit summarizes issues in Environmental Health (poverty, population pressure, resource use, food supply, energy, water and sanitation, urban services, settlements, and global environmental issues). The second unit's focus is on Women as Agents of Change (energy, agriculture, water, human settlements, forestry, transportation, and science and technology). The third module's focus is on women as managers of water and sanitation/waste. The fourth module's focus is on capacity building and guidelines for action at the program level.

Monitoring is a crucial mechanism to secure and improve implementation of human rights. Field officers and other human rights defenders are key agents in monitoring, and thus contribute to securing human rights in practice. This manual is meant to provide information on basic monitoring techniques and to give a focused overview of current human rights law and practice in selected areas of importance for most practitioners working with human rights monitoring. It contains checklists for monitors, as well as references to key literature, handbooks and web resources for further information. It also includes annotated lists of instrument provisions relevant to each theme. The manual is intended for people of various backgrounds, including field officers and activists with no specific legal training.