Acknowledgements The report was drafted by Richard Carver, Director of Oxford Media Research which monitors media output during democratic transition. Richard Carver has worked for Article 19, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch and served as a consultant to many non-governmental and ­intergovernmental ­organisations including Fahamu, the International Institute for Democratic and Electoral Assistance (IDEA), the Commonwealth Secretariat and the United ­Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He has written books on health and development and on the post-independence history of Malawi, and was lead author of the International Council’s report Performance & Legitimacy: National human rights institutions as well as a report on national human rights institutions in Africa for the African Centre for Democracy and Human Rights Studies. To assist this research, the Council distributed a questionnaire to national ­human rights institutions, through the Office of the United Nations High ­Commissioner for Human Rights. We are most grateful to the national institutions from the ­following countries which responded: Afghanistan, Albania, Australia, ­Colombia, Fiji, Germany, Greece, Republic of Korea, Luxembourg, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nepal, Netherlands, Niger, Nigeria, Palestine and Togo. The project was managed until April 2004 by Dr Mohammad-Mahmoud ­Mohamedou, then a Research Director at the International Council. It has been completed by his successor, Jean-Nicolas Beuze. The research has been conducted under the supervision of an Advisory Group composed of: Brice Dickson Chief Commissioner, Northern Ireland Human Rights Commission (1999 – 2005) Kim Forss Independent researcher; Director, Andante – tools for thinking AB Imrana Jalal Human Rights Adviser at the Regional Rights ­Resources Team (RRRT), Fiji; Member of the ­International Council’s Executive Board Zonke Majodina Deputy Chairperson, South African Human Rights Commission Orest Nowosad Coordinator, National Institutions Unit, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Livingstone Sewanyana Executive Director, Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Kampala; Principal Consultant for Libra Consultants Limited Assessing the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions