National Action 6: Report on violations against Human Rights Defenders In the context of the RAP, reporting includes both public reports of specific incidents, as well as violations committed on a larger scale.130 The elements contained in each type of report are elaborated below. A. Conduct context-specific or national inquiries on violations against HRDs Context specific or national inquiries on violations against HRDs assist in enhancing your NHRI’s understanding of the situation of HRDs at the national level and the violations they face. Context specific inquiries are also useful when HRDs in a given context suffer violations, such as trans or land rights HRDs being disproportionately affected. Context-specific inquiries could also be carried out when the political climate warrants, such as when a restrictive law is touted. The means to carry out the inquiries are essentially the same as those elaborated in National Action 5 on monitoring violations. As illustrated by the examples of the RAP and the aforementioned National Action, public hearings can be a particularly useful method,131 such as that conducted by the Philippines Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in developing the national inquiry on the situation of human rights defenders in 2019.132 B. Prepare special reports on the situation of violations against defenders i. National reporting Reporting on violations suffered by HRDs is essential. Reports can form the basis of campaigns for the protection of HRDs, public statements or press releases condemning attacks,133 complaints or strategic litigation before regional or international human rights bodies, or even social media posts and events. These reports should include recommendations for competent State authorities, or UN bodies or other stakeholders such as businesses, on how to enhance the protection of HRDs.134 These reports and additional actions that they form the basis for, including public advocacy sheds light on issues that might otherwise go unnoticed, reduces the probabilities of risks materialising by bringing public attention to them and puts political pressure on those responsible.135 Case study: Some NGOs provide valuable examples: The Centre for Defenders and Justice of Venezuela (“Centro para los defensores y la justicia”) publishes monthly, quarterly, semi-annual and annual reports on the attacks suffered by HRDs on the country. The data are disaggregated by date, type of attack, victims and perpetrators.136 Frontline Defenders also collects and reports on defenders at risk worldwide.137 The reports of both NGOs do include the names of some of the victims, presumably those that consented to being identified or whose information was already public. The Kenyan NHRI provides a good example of how a complaints-handling system can be used to prepare reports. Since complaints can be presented electronically, it contains a database 130 RAP page 29 131 RAP page 29 132 https://chr.gov.ph/statement-of-chr-commissioner-roberto-eugenio-t-cadiz-on-the-launching-by-the-commission-onhuman-rights-of-a-national-inquiry-on-the-situation-of-human-rights-defenders-in-the-country-today/ 133 https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/international-and-local-ngos-condemn-32-year-prison-sentence-germain-rukuki-upheld 134 https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/22/47 par. 87 135 https://undocs.org/en/A/HRC/22/47 par.98; https://undocs.org/A/HRC/31/55 par. 94 136 https://centrodefensores.org.ve/?p=281 137 https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/open-cases 43