Part II Protecting and promoting the rights of women and girls: NHRIs in action The inquiry team should plan public hearings carefully to ensure that it can hear from all relevant stakeholders and experts, including, if necessary, through the careful selection of witnesses at each hearing. The individual situation of each witness should be taken into account so that the hearings can proceed as smoothly as possible and are respectful of those who give evidence. Women and girl witnesses may require special attention in this regard. Public hearings are generally open to the public, including the media and representatives of government agencies, NGOs, trade unions, civil society groups and other interested stakeholders. The NHRI may need to make a special effort to ensure that women are aware of the inquiry and that they are able to attend and participate. Children are not often involved in public inquiries but the NHRI may wish to consider ways that enable girls and young women to safely provide evidence or otherwise participate. 6.5. FINALIZING THE INQUIRY The Manual on Conducting a National Inquiry into Systemic Patterns of Human Rights Violation sets out five steps involved in finalizing a national inquiry: • Developing recommendations • Preparing the report • Releasing the report • Following up • Evaluating.110 These steps are necessary for any inquiry and the Manual should be consulted for detailed guidance on what is required under each step. The following section focus specifically on those aspects that have a gender dimension or that may otherwise require particular consideration when the inquiry relates to the human rights of women and girls. Developing recommendations: A national inquiry should result in a detailed set of recommendations. These are generally aimed at acknowledging – and perhaps redressing – past violations of human rights and preventing future ones from occurring. When formulating recommendations, the NHRI should value quality over quantity and carefully prioritize those actions they believe are most important in securing a genuine change in the human rights situation for women and girls. Recommendations can be addressed to all relevant actors, not only the Government. They can be directed to any body, organization or even individual that has a role in addressing the violations or improving human rights compliance. They should be firmly based on the information and evidence collected by the inquiry and reflect national and international human rights standards. Recommendations that emerge from an inquiry relating to the human rights of women may be as broad as the terms of reference of the inquiry. For example, they might propose changes to laws, policies and practices of the Government or recommend training and education to improve understanding and respect for women’s human rights within the community or within a specific sector. Preparing and releasing the report: The inquiry report is an opportunity for the NHRI to build public understanding of women’s human rights and how these rights can be both protected and violated. It should tell a clear, evidence-based and persuasive story that generates broad community support for change and, more specifically, for implementing the inquiry’s recommendations. Experience has demonstrated the value of reports that foreground the experiences of victims of human rights violations. In the case of a report dealing with the human rights of women, it is essential that the stories and experiences of women shape the report and feed into its final recommendations. Consideration should also be given to supplementing the official report with a plain-language summary and reports in other formats, such as audio and video, in order to make the inquiry’s findings and recommendations accessible to women, girls and other stakeholders. 110 See Chapters 12–16 of the Manual on Conducting a National Inquiry. Chapter 6: Conducting inquiries into systemic violations of women’s and girls’ human rights | 75