DEFENCE FOR CHILDREN INTERNATIONAL (DCI) - Belgium | Practical Guide In that sense, most of them shall be directly made to the authority responsible for the management of the place of deprivation of liberty (head of the facility) but if the root cause of an issue lies elsewhere, recommendations shall be addressed to the higher (or to several) level(s) of authority (administration or Ministry). A separate report would be necessary for that purpose. Furthermore, in case of emergency, communication with the higher level of authority should be prioritised in order to avoid any risk of harm for the child who has disclosed any sensitive or grave facts. E. DISSEMINATION OF REPORTS Over a first phase, the dissemination of the report may be delayed to give the institution the opportunity to query some of the factual matters before publication. This could facilitate the dialogue with the authorities and allow editing comments, cross-checking information and investigating reported or alleged abuses. After a given deadline and after all attempts have been made to agree to recommendations, then the report may be made public. In that sense, a balance should be established between the need for flexibility and the promotion of a constructive dialogue on the one hand, and the necessity of transparency and accountability on the other hand. Good practice suggests that analytical reports such as periodic and annual reports should always be made public and therefore be easily accessible and widely disseminated, notably to other stakeholders and in particular other monitoring bodies and civil society organisations that can play an important role in emphasising recommendations (advocacy). When deemed appropriate, reports or key elements of reports may be communicated to the media. It is worth mentioning that the monitoring body should pay special attention to the formulation and content of the information communicated to the media in order to avoid any sensationalism of the issues and, above all, to respect the “do no harm principle” and the confidentiality of the sources. It can also be useful to send the reports to international organisations such as the CPT, the SPT, the CAT, the CRC, the Special Rapporteur Against Torture or the Human Rights Commissioner of the CoE in order to orientate their further visits and to relate to them recent and updated information. 88

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