MONITORING, UNDERTAKEN BY NGO
[Presentation to Human Rights NGO Forum]

N.Chinchuluun
Director of the Centre for
Human Rights and Development

Distinguished colleagues and participants,
Taking this opportunity to participate in this NGO Forum, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the staff of Lawyers Center Supporting Legal Reform who is organizing this important event.

In my presentation I will explain mainly how NGOs conduct monitoring and what activities international organizations’ are working on. And I would like to draw your attention on the issue of what we should do in the future in regard of human rights monitoring related issue.

Monitoring is an activity carried out to find out what is wrong with a certain situation or individual case. Monitoring means the close observation of a certain situation; it consists of a set concept of observation, examination, research and reporting.
The following elements constitute monitoring, in other words the main characteristic of monitoring activity:
1. It is carried out over a sustainable long period of time.
2. It involves collecting or receiving as much data as possible on human right violations.
3. It means close observation of the situation, usually through constant or periodic examination or investigation and documentation of developments.
4. Standards or norms are used as reference to determine what is wrong with the situation.
5. Certain tools or instruments are used in the process of monitoring when comparing the existing situations with standards or norms.
6. The product of monitoring activity is usually a report about the existing certain situation.
7. The report that comes out, embodies an assessment of the situation, advices and recommendations, which provides a basis for further action and measures.

Norms or standards are common, accepted or agreed-upon characteristics or ways of behaviour of persons, things, events or situations.
· A case or situation is considered abnormal if it exhibits characteristics that deviate from norms. It means that there is a problem that needs to be corrected.
· In society, norms of behaviour are usually those that are followed by the greatest number of its members,
· Norms can be dictated by agreements which are, to be followed or implemented by the parties that entered into the agreements.

The process of carrying out Monitoring is done to see whether there are gaps between universally-accepted standards and those set through national legislation and how they are applied or met in reality. However, monitoring is also undertaken to be able to provide early warning. and prevention.
Human rights monitoring can be of two general kinds, depending on their focus:
· situation monitoring
· case monitoring.

1. situation monitoring
a) monitoring of human rights violations

b) legislative monitoring the drafting and passing of legislation

c) monitoring the implementation of laws and policies

d) monitoring the establishment and progress of human rights institutions
2. case monitoring
a) monitoring the legal process undergone by a case

b) monitoring of relief and rehabilitation services provided to a client

c) monitoring of other forms of intervention in a case

Situation monitoring focuses on a situation in general. Many human rights groups for instance produce reports that largely describe and analyze the occurrence of violations in a country. Aside from documentation of events, a situation report may also include an assessment of the progress of a country in terms of relevant human rights legislation and the performance of human rights institutions. The different forms of situation monitoring are all useful whether for the purpose of monitoring government compliance with treaty obligations or for domestic monitoring purposes, for example such as to be able to undertake denunciation and public awareness activities.

Case monitoring is very focused and victim-oriented. Consistent work for or on behalf of a client, whether an individual victim or a group of victims, such as in pursuing justice or in providing medical attention, is called casework. Following and documenting the developments in the case of a client is an essential and integral part of casework.
Humanitarian groups tend to conduct more victim-oriented monitoring. The majority of human rights NGOs works both towards changing a general situation and in response to specific needs of victims and thus carry out situation monitoring and case monitoring at the same time.
The scope of monitoring can be broad or narrow, with variations in terms of the objects.

State and non –governmental organizations carry out monitoring and they are based on their respective internal uses and victim’s interests.
The members of treaty-monitoring bodies of the U.N. conduct monitoring so that they will have the necessary information to call the attention of governments regarding compliance with their treaty obligations that State parties have acceded to or ratified and thus assist them in applying the provisions and in fulfilling their reporting obligations.
Human rights NGOs accomplish among them a wide range of activities, from human rights education to advocacy to direct services to victims, with the majority carrying out monitoring, both of situations and of individual cases of victims.
The usual focus of situation monitoring by NGOs is on violations. In the provision of direct services, NGOs are bound to carry out case monitoring. It could be the legal situation of a victim that is monitored or the progress of her/his rehabilitation progress.
NGOs have now gone beyond monitoring direct violations, to monitor also the compliance of their governments with treaty obligations. Moreover, some NGOs have been actively taking part in the activities of treaty-monitoring bodies, such as in the submission of alternative or "shadow" reports.
Some NGOs have broad mandates (e.g., monitoring of violations of civil and political rights) while others are specialised (e.g., responding to cases of disappearances, torture, etc.).
Also, diverse types of groups like development NGOs, women groups and community-based groups have gradually taken on or included a human rights approach in their work. Thus, the whole spectrum of human rights - from individual to collective rights, from civil and political to economic, social and cultural rights - is increasingly being monitored nowadays.
From the history, results from the monitoring activities undertaken by NGOs, were main influences in provision of justice
· Human rights activists working in NGOs for instance conduct direct monitoring by promptly investigating reports of human rights violations and undertaking immediate intervening actions.
· NGOs and International Governmental Organizations dealing with conflict prevention or transformation engage in monitoring so as to be able to provide early warning.
· It must be stressed that an important part of the work of NGOs is lobbying for change in legislation, thus the results of monitoring should be brought to the attention of policy-makers, such as like parliamentarians.

· There are also external users of the information derived from monitoring, notably policy-makers and scholars.

· Scholars, such as those belonging to the academic world, also oftentimes undertake an indirect kind of monitoring by selecting certain situations for analysis and soliciting information from various sources. The conclusions reached by scholars in highlighting problems in society could and should be utilised in working for policy changes.

· A very important specific kind of users consists of quasi-governmental organisations like national truth and/or justice commissions

· Other users can be researchers, lawyers, other human rights NGOs, cause-oriented groups and the public in general.
· Activist groups, for instance, may use the information derived from monitoring in denouncing policies of the state. The specific uses and methods may vary, but the ultimate aim is the same, which is to seek to change an abnormal human rights situation.
And also, NGOs conduct additional activities in order to make it’s monitoring process more effective.
An area which NGOs can consider, either for active participation and monitoring , is the development of multi-annual economic and social development plans by governments. NGOs can undertake mobilisations to air concerns that can be considered by the authorities in the course of planning. When the plans are finalised, the NGOs can use them as the standards in monitoring the achievements of the government. While it is suggested that work with intergovernmental bodies should be done, it must be stressed that work in the domestic level remains to be more important.
Monitoring should have as its main goals the following: influencing national laws and policies, educating the people and mobilising them on issues of government responsibilties. Human rights organisations should use the results of international work, such as comments by treaty-monitoring bodies or findings by U.N. Special Rapporteurs, should be used as additional information means available to strengthen the moves made at the national and local levels.
There is also a need for greater collaboration and coordination of work among various NGOs in order to reveal urgent needs and make analyse in addressing the issue. If human rights NGOs with various mandates work together, a collective picture of what is happening in a country may be pieced together, and more effective human rights protection and promotion strategies can be considered and implemented.
For Mongolia, human rights monitoring is not undertaken by its full meaning in this first stage of human rights protection mechanism’s development.
For Mongolia, as we declared a mission to respect human rights in the Constitution and as a country which is a member state to many International treaties and conventions, it is important to learn from developed countries which are aiming for developing more humane society. It will be approachable and time-saving. And also this will accelerate the process of development.
Our organization is established to undertake human rights monitoring In the past we have developed many researches on the basis of our primary knowledge and limited resources, one of them is Human Rights Situation Record 2000 and 2001 (I hope that you know them). In those records, we tried to include the changes made in the field of human right and new facts on human rights violations. Those records are used as a social marketing tool to influence people’s ideas, customs and behaviours to human rights situation in Mongolia.
In regard to developing the records, staff of the Centre for Human Rights and Development made the research trips which are fieldwork activities and analyzed the statistical data, newspaper information and other organizations’ researches.
We , the CHRD staff consider that this was the first situation monitoring activity conducted by NGO in Mongolia.
Furthermore, we are aiming to develop “shadow report”, based on our annual record. However, it is clear that this is not so easy work. Thus, there is a requirement to be collaborated in further activity in order to acquire an effective and successful results.

What shall be done?
It would be endless if we talk about human rights violations here on those days. Therefore, we, the organizations which will work for monitoring need to define and categorize human rights violations and to plan which is the most important to begin with and who will implement the monitoring action.
For example:
1. There is a need to conduct monitoring in governmental plan, policy and programs. Are those policies and programs really human-oriented and implemented for the purpose to open a possibility to live and develop? Or are they a policy to restrict and discriminate the citizens? Or, it is for only a fake reputation on the international arena? If we reveal those, it would be useful to determine a concrete State policy to adhere to the guaranteed provision of human rights.
2. There is a need to undertake monitoring on law implementation. If it is not implemented even though we have a good legal act, it means that there is no law. Monitoring is the best way to reveal the deficiencies in law implementation and hidden bureaucracy and bribery (corruption). And also monitoring will determine what kind of legal acts are lacked.
3. There is a need to monitor the activities of the organizations, which consider human rights. The dominant percentage of the complaints of free press, mass media, suspects and detainees is on the function and staff of law enforcement organizations such as police, court, prosecutor and detention centers. The monitoring in those organizations would help to get rid of an old-fashioned mentality, which always tries to show everything from the light side in order to hide difficulties and defects.
4. There is a need to conduct monitoring on the issue of vulnerable group. Vulnerable group means that some people are not able to enjoy their rights, fully. It means that they live in vulnerable situation of high risk to be victims of human rights violations. Monitoring will help to implement systematically the additional rights, which are specially developed for vulnerable group people of the society in order to protect their rights.
5. There is a need and requirement to make an analysis in gender related issues. On one hand, hatred for men, accusing them as a lazy, powerless and drunken and on other hand hatred for women, accusing them as lower class humans are a lot detrimental to our lives of both sexes and society as well. A boy, ignored by his parents, and grown up in the street without any care and love will lack a capability to mobilize and develop himself. Then how will be his adult life and his participation in the society? How will the participation of women in society, who don’t value local men and overvalue foreigners, who is always claimed for the divorce of a couple and who are working hard and doing almost everything to gain a life and to raise her children. Are they wrong?
There should be a national identity for less-developed and developing countries which is unique, in particular on gender issue from all other nations and requires unique attention or attitude. Therefore it is required to develop a specific policy and a program to draw the attention of donor organizations (funding agencies) to gender related issue by a monitoring method.
In the end of my speech, I would like to express my gratitude for your attention and time. I hope you will take an attention to such kind of issues I mentioned on my presentation and help in making a decision resulted from this NGO Forum.

Thank you for your attention.

2002, April 17