Introduction Virtually all NHRIs monitor human rights. Many systematically assess the human rights situation in the country either generally or with regard to particularly important issues. Monitoring is a key aspect of the general protection mandate and it also contains important promotional features (notably in reporting results). It includes: ■■ Country monitoring; ■■ Issues-based monitoring, e.g., monitoring based on a long-term approach to a selected thematic issue, such as a decision to track the human rights situation or treatment of persons who are members of specific groups over time; ■■ Incident-based monitoring, i.e., monitoring aimed at specific fact-finding about particular events; ■■ Monitoring places of detention to prevent torture, minimize pretrial and preventive detention, and ensure that international standards are respected; ■■ Monitoring progress in achieving internationally agreed development goals. National human rights institutions need to choose a monitoring programme based on their strategic planning priorities and their legal mandate. Staff should receive basic and advanced training on human rights monitoring. The purpose of monitoring is not simply to document where things stand, but to encourage positive change. Learning objectives After reviewing this chapter, the reader will be able to: ■■ Define monitoring; ■■ Describe the general principles that should guide an institution in its monitoring activities; ■■ Describe how to set up and operate a programme to monitor the human rights situation in a country using a “progressive realization” approach; ■■ Describe how to set up and operate a programme to monitor the rights of detainees; and ■■ Describe circumstances in which an institution might monitor an “event”. 112