Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights CASE STUDY: THE CANTERBURY EARTHQUAKE RECOVERY IN NEW ZEALAND In its report, Monitoring Human Rights in the Canterbury Earthquake Recovery (see Chapter 2), the New Zealand Human Rights Commission (NZHRC) included “Community voices”, one-page case studies profiling the stories of different Canterbury residents that related to the topic of a particular chapter. These stories come from excerpts of interviews with people who approached the NZHRC seeking assistance. They provide a powerful illustration of how the issues and concerns raised in the report impacted on people’s everyday lives. The report was also informed by the NZHRC’s community development work, including a project designed to empower young people to record and reflect on post-earthquake issues in their communities through photography. The photographs included in the report give the reader an insight into the challenges facing the community that text alone would not be able to convey. Post-earthquake, Christchurch, Canterbury, New Zealand. Photo by seabirthnz, reproduced under a CC BY-ND 2.0 license. 14.3. MAKING RECOMMENDATIONS Channels for securing accountability for failures to fulfil ESCR are generally less punitive than for violations of physical integrity and other civil and political rights. Even “hard” judicial remedies for ESCR violations often involve a “dialogic” approach. This means the court will declare that there has been a violation of a right but will leave it to the elected branches of government to decide on the manner and means of addressing it (within certain parameters). For this reason, rather than simply denouncing rights violations, the goal of a monitoring report should be to prod or push relevant decision makers to take a particular course of action. 142