NATIONAL ACTION 5: Monitor violations against Human Rights Defenders B. Identify HRDs in complaints-handling systems If your NHRI has a complaints-handling system, it can be used to collect data on violations of human rights generally. For example, the NHRIs of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Nigeria have registries of complaints for gender-based violence.104 Procedures to identify HRDs, including an option for identification or self-identification within existing complaints-handling systems, will allow an NHRI to obtain information on violations against HRDs within existing architecture. It is likely that not all HRDs will identify themselves as such, so it is also important to be able to deduce from information provided through complaints-handling systems whether a victim would fall within the broad definition of a HRD.105 If your NHRI does not have an existing complaints-handling system, data collection can be done through other means such as in researching reports, through emergency hotlines or other direct contact points. C. Monitor government implementation of the 1998 HRDs Declaration NHRIs can assist States in bringing their legislation and its application in line with international standards. For example, the Moroccan NHRI designated a specific mechanism to monitor the realisation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the country.106 NHRIs are encouraged to support governments in complying with international standards on the protection of HRDs, including the UN Declaration on human rights defenders.107 NGOs and NHRIs provide valuable examples of how to effectively carry out this monitoring. In its report on the status of HRDs in the country, the South African NHRI (“SAHRC”) dedicated a section to ‘Monitoring South Africa’s international and regional obligations regarding HRDs’. It monitored compliance by verifying the contents of reports and recommendations from international human rights institutions. Beyond specific monitoring of implementation of elements of the HRD Declaration, as the rights contained therein articulate rights in key international instruments (i.e. freedom of expression, liberty, work), the observations of UN treaty bodies can also serve to determine compliance with the HRDs Declaration.108 APF is working to support NHRIs to ensure that comparative tools to monitor the implementation of the Declaration are analogous between member NHRIs, so that regional comparisons can also be conducted. Case study: In 2018, ISHR, along with the Colombian Commission of Jurists (CCJ) and the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH) carried out a study on whether the UN Declaration on HRDs had made a difference to the lives of HRDs in Colombia and Tunisia. The methodology used by that study could also provide valuable guidance on means of monitoring the implementation of the HRD Declaration. Some of the actions include:109 • Analysing the situation on the ground. 104 https://ganhri.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/DIMR_GANHRI-CSW-Report_final-BF.pdf p.15 105 Namely, anyone who promotes and strives “for the protection and realization of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels.” https://undocs.org/A/RES/53/144 106 https://ganhri.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/GANHRI-UNICEF-Children%E2%80%99s-Rights-in-National-Human-Rights-Institutions.pdf p. 25 107 https://www.right-docs.org/doc/a-hrc-res-22-6/ par.20, 21 108 https://www.sahrc.org.za/home/21/files/Human%20Rights%20Defenders%20Publication.pdf pag 14 109 https://ishr.ch/defenders-toolbox/resources/has-the-un-declaration-made-a-difference-to-the-lives-of-human-rightsdefenders/ 37