Promoting and Protecting the Human Rights of Women and Girls A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions IMPROVING COMPLAINT RATES ABOUT VIOLATIONS OF WOMEN’S HUMAN RIGHTS A 2011 APF study on the work of NHRIs in the area of reproductive rights (see further in Chapter 9) found that most NHRIs had never received a complaint on the issue. Of those NHRIs that did report receiving such complaints, the complaint numbers were generally very low. Only two of 17 NHRIs reported a high number of complaints on reproductive rights. In one case, the complaints related exclusively to pregnancy-based discrimination. In the other case, the extremely high number of complaints related principally to harmful practices and gender-based violence. The report concluded that the low number of complaints was due to a combination of factors. However, a major factor was the lack of knowledge about reproductive rights within NHRIs. Institutional confusion and uncertainty about reproductive rights often meant that NHRIs did not contribute to raising awareness about the issue among rights-holders and duty-bearers. As a result, those who may have suffered a violation of their reproductive rights were not sufficiently informed to bring that violation to the attention of their NHRI. 92 The establishment of satellite or provincial offices is one option that may be open to some NHRIs. However, accessibility can also be improved through other measures. For example, NHRIs can develop alternative systems to receive and investigate complaints, without the need for a complainant to physically attend an office. 92 INDIA: IMPROVING ACCESSIBILITY FOR COMPLAINANTS The National Human Rights Commission of India has developed an online complaints submission and registration system, linked to its website. The Commission also operates a 24 hour phone service for receiving complaints and responding to general queries. A complainant can use the online or phone service to find out the status of their complaint and can also approach the Commission to obtain information about their complaint. As a general rule, the process for submitting a complaint should be as simple and as straightforward as possible. It should not involve any cost to the person lodging the complaint and there should be a capacity to receive both oral and written complaints. Information about the complaint handling procedure and the complaint lodgement forms should be available in appropriate languages so that they are accessible to the widest possible range of people. Where necessary, the NHRI should ensure that interpretation services are available to complainants or people making a complaints-related enquiry. The NHRI should also ensure that its complaint handling procedure is flexible enough to take into account the different experiences and situations of women and girl complainants. For example, migrant and refugee women may be transient and therefore unable to meet a requirement to provide a permanent address. NHRIs should be able to accommodate and respond appropriately to these situations, both in how complaints are handling and in their strategies for communicating information about women’s rights and how they can be protected. Social media, websites and toll-free telephone numbers are all potential options in this regard. 92 56 APF and UNDP, Integrating Human Rights into the Work of National Human Rights Institutions of the Asia-Pacific Region, 2011, p. 16.