Vulnerable groups The study should list groups in society that are regarded as vulnerable or requiring some form of special attention. It should make an assessment of their human rights situation. Human rights issues It may be useful to list the principal human rights issues that have been identified in recent times by national inquiries, the parliament, NGOs, the United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures, and the media. 8.2.3 Drafting and dissemination of the baseline study There are several possible approaches to drafting the baseline study: • The coordinating committee may request the secretariat to draft it; • The committee may commission a suitable individual, group or organization to undertake the task or constitute a task force of several organizations to do so. These may include national human rights institutions, parliaments, NGOs, judicial officials, representatives of international human rights organizations or respected human rights experts. • An alternative model is for the baseline study to be the outcome of a consultative process managed on a cooperative basis between government and civil society. The exercise can be managed as an activity of the coordinating committee, possibly with the input of sectoral working groups. If it is properly organized, funded and prepared, a single meeting over several days, together with written submissions and some more informal information-gathering activities, can produce the desired assessment. If this does not accord with local conditions, for example in large or populous countries, the consultative process may comprise several meetings in different locations. Whatever the approach, it is important to ensure adequate consultation before the study is finalized. Even if it is prepared in association with civil society, it is desirable to develop a draft for comment by interested groups and members of the public. This draft should be disseminated to all groups in the consultation process. It should also be posted on the plan’s web site and should be made available to members of the public for comment. There should be clear time frames to ensure that the preparation of the study does not delay the drafting and launching of the plan. On the basis that the study should not involve original research and should not be lengthy, a period of two months is suggested for the preparation of the draft study, with a further two months for comment. The coordinating committee should, of course, continue with other activities while the study is under way. 64