Disseminating information about international mechanisms – NHRIs should keep society informed about international developments in human rights, especially those that are directly relevant to the country. They may, for example, report the proceedings of treaty-monitoring bodies and findings of special procedures. They may also organise follow-up meetings with civil society and government bodies, and advocate national action to implement recommendations. NHRIs should encourage their governments to ratify international human rights instruments without reservations. D. Educating and informing in the field of human rights Public awareness and education campaigns for the public and ­officials – NHRIs should aim to make both the public and public officials more aware of human rights and their obligations. Training courses for officials – Given the scale of this task, priorities must be set: training should focus on officials who have the greatest impact on human rights protection or who are most likely to abuse rights, such as law enforcement officials. Public awareness campaigns for disadvantaged groups – Human rights ­education programmes should target marginalised groups such as ethnic, ­religious or linguistic minorities. Women’s rights should be a special focus, both generally and on specific issues such as domestic violence. Human rights ­education of children should receive attention, in co-operation with the ­education system, and should include education about children’s rights. Human rights training – National institutions should press all departments of government to introduce human rights training for staff, and may themselves act as resource and training centres for the public and governmental or nongovernmental bodies. NHRIs should also develop their policy capacity, especially with respect to new or emerging issues. To do so, they may co-operate with academic institutions and civil society organisations. E. Receiving complaints or petitions from individuals or groups (where appropriate) Ability to receive complaints against public bodies – NHRIs mandated to ­receive complaints should have broad powers to deal with them. As with their monitoring role, no relevant public body should be excluded from their jurisdiction. Ability to receive complaints relating to private bodies that carry out ­ public f­unctions – Preferably, NHRIs should be able to receive complaints about the actions of private bodies, such as businesses. An institution’s jurisdiction should certainly apply when private bodies have been assigned responsibility for ­public functions, such as provision of basic utilities, health services, ­education or custodial and law enforcement activities. 20 Assessing the Effectiveness of National Human Rights Institutions