A. W hat is monitoring ? Monitoring refers to the activity of observing, collecting, cataloguing and analysing data and reporting on a situation or event. Depending on the circumstances, its aim can be to document human rights abuses so as to recommend corrective action or to be preventive and educational, or it may serve the purpose of advocacy. An institution should attempt to verify that its presentation of an event or situation is factually correct. Nonetheless, a monitoring report is essentially an account of what has been observed either directly by the institution or reported by others. The standards that guide the institution in preparing such a monitoring report are therefore usually less rigorous than those that guide it when it investigates complaints and reports on its investigations. Some institutions may also monitor elections, but since this not typical and is highly specialized, it is not discussed in this publication. Information on election monitoring can be obtained from the Training Manual on Human Rights Monitoring.62 Many institutions also monitor the legislative and policy development functions of a Government. Since this is done with the specific intent of providing advice to the Government, that activity has been described in chapter VI and will not be repeated here. 62  United Nations publication, Sales No. E.01.XIV.2. 113