• The inquiry should determine whether and when it would be appropriate to use the NHRI’s powers to support its investigation. • The hearings should generally be as public as possible and open especially to the media, NGOs and interested members of the public. Chapter 12: Develop recommendations • The inquiry makes recommendations to promote full compliance with human rights obligations, through providing redress for past violations and prevention of new ones. • Recommendations must be realistic, comprehensive but as concise as possible, well targeted and directed towards the principal issues identified in the inquiry. • Recommendations should address the inquiry’s terms of reference and respond to the facts of the situation as revealed by the inquiry, measured against the requirements of international human rights law. • Recommendations should be directed to any body, organisation or even individual with a role in addressing the violations or improving human rights compliance. • Recommendations should indicate which have the higher priority and which may be implemented in the medium-term or longer-term. Chapter 13: Prepare the report • A good report will ensure much better community understanding of the nature of the human rights issue or situation that has been examined and a much better possibility that the inquiry’s recommendations are accepted and implemented. • The inquiry should direct its report to the parliament and the Government, to victims, to those to whom recommendations are addressed and to the broader community. • The report is a means of promoting the inquiry’s recommendations and therefore needs to be persuasive, well written, appropriately structured and highlight the voices and experiences of victims. • The nature and style of the report should meet any statutory or other requirements for official reports to the parliament but they should also promote understanding by a wide audience. • The inquiry can choose to issue several reports, rather than only one, and to report in various formats, including video and audio form and through social media, not just through a written text, to ensure that the report is suitable for a variety of audiences. Chapter 14: Release the report • Releasing the report is the culmination of the inquiry’s work of investigation but it inaugurates a new stage of activity in promoting the report’s findings and recommendations and its implementation. • The inquiry should plan the release carefully, well in advance, with its focus firmly on promoting implementation of the recommendations. • The release should occur in some kind of public event or activity and should be accompanied by a series of other activities to raise awareness of the report’s contents and to promote its implementation. Summary | 83