Implementation Guidelines for Regional Action Plan on Human Rights Defenders • Meeting with State representatives, UN Officials and civil society actors to discuss and analyse the procedures and practices employed to implement UN resolutions and recommendations related to HRDs. • Analysing human rights reports from human rights experts, institutions and organisations. Valuable reports can come from the UN Treaty Bodies, Special Rapporteurs (particularly the UNSR on HRDs), regional organisations and local and international NGOs (such as Amnesty International and Protection International). • Reviewing votes and participation of the government in negotiations and resolutions related to HRDs in human rights bodies (such as the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly). A similar approach was taken by the SAHRC, which reviewed the votes of the South African Government in UN Resolutions related to HRDs. • Reviewing dissemination of the international standards and existence (or lack thereof) of databases where the public can review and monitor UN recommendations and resolutions. • Analysing speeches and statements of public officials to determine political will and public sentiment. • Analysing cases of criminalisation and other judicial and political decisions. • Reviewing the legislative framework. • Reviewing requirements, capabilities and effectiveness of entities responsible for monitoring, reporting and ensuring the implementation of international standards. This includes reviewing competences, resources and results. • Verifying the existence of directives and laws designed to comply with the requirements of the Declaration. D. Collect disaggregated data on violations from HRDs networks and other community sources It has been consistently reiterated throughout this Guide that information on rights violations of HRDs is fundamental for their protection, and procedures to collect that data are also critical. To begin, it is valuable to develop principles to guide investigations, they may include elements, such as:110 • The defence of human rights a key element of the investigative strategy; • Investigations should be geared towards determining degrees of responsibility and commensurate penalties; • An intersectional approach; • Involving analysis of contextual and risk factors; • Adopting methods of investigation that reflect the complexity of violations; and • Seek to prove harm and lead to reparations. i. Data to be collected The data to be collected should be registered in a standard format following a set of predetermined indicators. This will allow cross-checking between different cases and establish patterns of violations against HRDs.111 This, in turn, will allow the determination of a specific risk and its gravity. The format and indicators should be elaborated in close cooperation by all members of the APF 38 110 https://undocs.org/en/A/74/159 87-128 111 asiapacificforum.net/resources/preventing-torture-operational-manual-national-human-rights-institutions/ p.41