• Promotion of coordination of human rights activity among diverse government agencies and non-governmental organizations. It is important to develop awareness of all human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, among those working in diverse and relevant fields. Coordination is also important. But the overarching objective of the plan is to bring about tangible improvements in observance of all categories of human rights. From this point of view, it is important for those involved in the development and implementation of the plan to prevent it from being limited to a public relations exercise. For example, there may be a temptation simply to include ongoing programmes in relevant areas and to re-label them as human rights programmes. While this may entail some benefit, as it may promote awareness of human rights and a rights-based approach to social and development programming, if it is the only or the main content of the plan in the area concerned, it will fall well short of what might be achieved using the mechanism of a national action plan. Hence a desirable general approach is to set out broad principles but also to include particular and achievable targets. It will then be possible to demonstrate progress and to ensure that the effort that has gone into the national planning process has been worthwhile. 9.3 Scope of the plan In keeping with the indivisibility of human rights, the plan should be broad in scope. At the same time, consideration should be given to how detailed the plan can or should be in some areas. This is particularly relevant to economic, social and cultural rights, although it is also a consideration in other areas. Many of the issues covered by the plan will represent a human rights orientation for activities that are an ongoing part of a government’s normal programmes. In areas where substantive activity is already taking place, care will be needed to focus on the substantive benefit of the plan. The coordinating committee should clarify what the plan adds to work already under way. If it does little more than reformulate objectives and programmes already in existence, it runs the risk of adding to administrative and reporting workloads and undermining official support. In many areas, it will be better to emphasize raising awareness of the human rights dimensions of a particular issue among those responsible for implementing relevant programmes rather than attempting to provide a human rights version of most areas of government activity. In addition to more traditional issues such as civil rights within the legal system and discrimination, the plan should also address issues that have appeared more recently on the human rights agenda, such as trafficking in women and child pornography on the Internet. The plan should take account of information technology issues that affect human rights, both positively by enhancing the dissemination of human rights information and negatively by providing a medium for exploitation, for example with regard to children. 73

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