72 HANDBOOK FOR NHRIs ON WOMEN’S RIGHTS AND GENDER EQUALITY 7.2 PLANNING AND PRIORITIES The Montreal Principles on Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2002) (Montreal Principles) emphasise planning as a tool to guarantee women’s equal exercise and enjoyment of their rights. While choosing women’s rights and gender equality issues as priorities may seem easy, it is not as straightforward as one might think. In 2009, the OHCHR conducted a global survey on NHRIs, evaluating, among other things, their core protection activities and work priorities. The survey found that NHRIs in Africa, Asia Pacific and the Americas listed women’s issues among their priorities, while European NHRIs (most of the NHRIs analysed in this review) did not. While there may be a number of reasons for this finding, including higher levels of development among Western European countries, it points to the challenges of placing women’s issues high on the agenda of NHRIs and others.51 Establishing women’s issues as priorities starts with planning for them. The planning process can help to manage competing objectives and other priorities, especially as urgent matters can easily overtake longer-term projects. As discussed earlier, in Section 1.2 Legal Framework, NHRIs are increasingly being tasked with additional responsibilities under new international instruments. Unless these additional tasks are accompanied by additional resources, they can divert attention from other areas that are equally important. Strategic planning can be a solution to help identify priorities, using the results of consultations, research and data about national priorities. Planning helps to: • Promote a long-term focus; • Impose budgetary discipline; • Implement priorities over the short, medium and long terms; • Match resources to future activities; and • Ensure that priorities are informed by stakeholders’ needs, both at the time priorities are selected and later on, in order to respond to changing circumstances. 51 In Europe, there was much diversity in the responses. However, the most frequent answers related to: detention conditions and the prevention of torture (11); the rights of migrants, refugees and asylum seekers (9); the administration of justice and access to justice (8); the rights of minority groups; economic, social and cultural rights (7); the right to privacy (5); children’s rights (5); and the rights of persons with disabilities (5). OHCHR, Survey on National Human Rights Institutions (2009).