Contents Foreword v Acknowledgements vi List of abbreviations vi Introduction for users 1 Chapter 1: National human rights institutions and national inquiries 3 1.1 What is a national human rights institution? 3 1.2. The Paris Principles 4 1.3. The functions and powers of NHRIs 5 1.4. The Paris Principles and national inquiries 5 Chapter 2: The concept of a national inquiry 6 2.1. The nature of a national inquiry 6 2.2. Why hold a national inquiry? 7 2.3. Situations that lend themselves to a national inquiry process 8 2.4. Other factors in deciding whether to conduct a national inquiry 9 2.5. Steps in the national inquiry process Chapter 3: Choose the issue 11 13 3.1. The importance of choosing the most suitable issue 13 3.2. Criteria for selecting the issue 14 3.3. Choosing the issue 16 Chapter 4: Prepare a background (scoping) paper 17 4.1. Purpose of the background paper 17 4.2. Contents of the background paper 17 4.3. The overview of the situation 18 4.4. International human rights law 18 4.5. Matters to be investigated 19 4.6. Possible results 19 4.7. Human rights education 19 4.8. Timetable 20 4.9. Resource requirements 20 4.10. Stakeholder views 20 i