Undertaking Effective Investigations A Guide for National Human Rights Institutions 4. IDENTIFYING SYSTEMIC ISSUES A systemic issue may be the root cause of widespread human rights violations. The NHRI may be able to resolve an individual complaint, however if it ignores the systemic issue that created the problem in the first place, it will inevitably receive similar complaints in the future. It is wise to identify if there are any possible systemic issues – and decide whether or not to investigate them – before launching an investigation. There are various approaches to identifying and tackling systemic issues. The Manual on Conducting a National Inquiry into Systemic Patterns of Human Rights Violation,26 referred to throughout this Manual, explains how to plan and conduct large-scale inquiries into systemic issues. It discusses in detail how to identify the scope of the issues that the national inquiry will deal with, including a chapter on how to choose the issue that will be the subject of the national inquiry. As it notes, a number of criteria must be considered when the choice is made, including: • how objectively significant the issue is in the country • how strong public perception is of the significance of the issue • whether the issue has been the subject of a previous inquiries or investigations • how much external commitment there is to addressing the issue • the potential that exists to build broader, long-term public interest in the issue. Another possible – and complimentary – approach is to conduct multiple complaint investigations. This approach is discussed in Chapter 27. KEY POINTS: CHAPTER 4 • Identify what issues the complaint raises. • Decide which issues, if any, will be investigated. • Be able to justify the reasons for that decision. • Determine if there are any underlying systemic issues. 26 32 The Manual was jointly published by the APF and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in 2012. It is available at www.asiapacificforum.net/support/professional-resources/.