Conducting a National Inquiry into Systemic Patterns of Human Rights Violation Chapter 12: Develop recommendations KEY QUESTIONS • Why do national inquiries make recommendations? • What should recommendations do? • What is their basis? • To whom should they be directed? • What are good recommendations? 12.1. THE PLACE OF RECOMMENDATIONS IN THE INQUIRY PROCESS The national inquiry is directed towards the completion and release of a report that contains its findings and recommendations. This is not the only objective of the inquiry but it is an important one. The inquiry seeks to ensure full performance of human rights obligations that are relevant to the inquiry’s terms of reference. That includes the provision of redress for victims of the human rights situation under investigation and adequate prevention mechanisms for the future. Its recommendations are directed towards these two issues, redress and prevention. And these two issues are the key parts of full compliance. To accomplish this, the recommendations must be realistic, comprehensive but as concise as possible, achievable, well targeted and directed towards the principal issues identified in the inquiry. The actual task of developing recommendations goes hand-in-hand with the public hearing component of the inquiry, as does the task of writing the report, discussed in the next chapter. Developing recommendations and writing the report are major tasks, perhaps occupying between 30 and 40 per cent of the time and energies of the inquiry team over the course of the inquiry. Options for recommendations should be developed from the very beginning of the inquiry, from the initial planning stage. Additional options can be included as the inquiry hears from experts and learns more about the actual experiences of victims. The list should be reviewed and refined, tested and debated, amended and developed continuously as the inquiry proceeds. Finally, when all the evidence has been gathered and analysed and all the advice obtained and considered, the inquiry adopts the recommendations in their final form. 12.2. WHAT SHOULD RECOMMENDATIONS DO? Recommendations should be developed to answer several key questions, • What needs to be done to provide remedies to victims? • What other aspects of human rights violations revealed by the inquiry should be addressed and how? • How can further similar violations be prevented, including where necessary changes to laws, policies and programmes? • What further should be done to educate the community about this human rights issue? 58