Overview of HR monitoring, fact finding and documentation

1. OVERVIEW OF MONITORING,
FACT-FINDING AND DOCUMENTATION

2. MONITORING, FACT-FINDING & DOCUMENTATION
MONITORING -- the close observation of a situation or
individual case carried out so as to determine what further
action needs to be taken.
FACT-FINDING -- identifying the violations in one event, and
establishing the facts relevant to these violations. Fact-finding
and investigation are terms that are used interchangeably.
DOCUMENTATION -- the systematic recording of the results of
the investigation of an event
Monitoring usually involves the investigation and documentation
of a large number of events.

3. MONITORING
is the close observation of
a situation or individual
case carried out so as to
determine what further
action needs to be taken.

4. ELEMENTS OF MONITORING
• carried out over an extended period of time
• involves collecting or receiving a large quantity of data or
information
• done through constant or periodic investigation and
documentation of developments
• standards or norms are used to assess the situation
• it results in a report
• the report provides a basis for further action

5. EXAMPLE OF A NORM
RIGHT: right to liberty
INTERNATIONAL STANDARD: "Everyone has
the right to liberty and security of person. No one
shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.
No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on
such grounds and in accordance with such
procedure as are established by law.” (Article 9
paragraph 1 of the International Covenant on
Civil and Political Rights)

6. EXAMPLE OF A NORM
RIGHT: right to liberty
NATIONAL STANDARD: “… penalties shall be
imposed upon the public officer or employee who shall
detain any person for some legal ground and shall fail to
deliver such person for the proper judicial authorities
within the period of: twelve (12) hours, for crimes or
offenses punishable by light penalties, or their equivalent;
eighteen (18) hours, for crimes or offenses punishable by
correctional penalties, or their equivalent; and thirty-six
hours (36) hours, for crimes or offenses punishable by
afflictive or capital penalties, or their equivalent. (Article
125 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines)

7. EXAMPLE OF A NORM
RIGHT: children’s right to liberty
NATIONAL STANDARD: immediate release of
a child 15 years of age or under accused of minor
crimes (R.A. 9344)

8. UNIVERSAL
STANDARDS
DOMESTIC
STANDARDS
DOMESTIC
APPLICATION
Monitoring is done to see
whether there are gaps
between universallyaccepted standards and
those set through domestic
(national) legislation. . .
. . . or between
domestic standards
and how they are
applied or met in
reality.

9. WHY MONITOR
The most common general purpose of monitoring is to be able to
pinpoint what is wrong with a situation or a case and to indicate
what steps can be taken to remedy it. Monitoring is also
undertaken to see whether steps that have been taken to improve a
situation are working.

10. What are the purposes for which
information is used?
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Immediate assistance
Relief and rehabilitation
Legal action (redress and prevention)
Education
Campaigns and other forms of advocacy
Policy advocacy and reform
Monitoring compliance with standards,
policies, laws, rules

11. TWO MAIN METHODOLOGIES IN MONITORING:
• THROUGH THE USE OF INDICATORS
• DOCUMENTATION OF ACTS OF VIOLATIONS

12. INDICATORS-BASED METHODOLOGY
INDICATOR shows where something is, what direction it is
leading to and how far it is from the objective. It can be a
result indicator or a process indicator.
Example of result indicator – enrolment rate
Example of process indicator – number of schools built

13. ACTS-BASED METHODOLOGY
involves
• investigating events
• determining the acts within the events which are violations
themselves or which lead to violations
These acts may be:
• acts of commission (for example, beating of a person, payment
of substandard wages)
• acts of omission (for example, failure to compel companies to
pay appropriate wages)

14. INDICATORS-BASED
METHODOLOGY
RIGHT TO
EDUCATION
ACTS-BASED)
METHODOLOGY

15. INDICATORS-BASED
METHODOLOGY
ENROLMENT
RATE
ACTS-BASED)
METHODOLOGY
CASES OF NONADMISSION,
EXPULSION, ETC.
RIGHT TO
EDUCATION

16. INDICATORS-BASED
METHODOLOGY
ENROLMENT
RATE
SURVEYS,
CENSUS
ACTS-BASED)
METHODOLOGY
CASES OF NONADMISSION,
EXPULSION, ETC.
RIGHT TO
EDUCATION
INVESTIGATION AND
DOCUMENTATION OF
EVENTS

17. TWO MAIN PROBLEMS WITH THE EVENTS
METHODOLOGY
1. The monitoring body may not hear of all
events
for example:
- lack of local contacts
- "private matter" thus unreported
2. It is unable to investigate and document all the
events that it learns about
for example:
- unwillingness of actors to be interviewed

18. FACT-FINDING AND DOCUMENTATION
These involve collecting information on:
- the acts committed (whether single or multiple),
including updates on developments
- the victims (whether individual or group)
- the perpetrators (whether individual or group),
including the respective levels of involvement
- also, organisations may opt to document the
interventions carried out on behalf of victims

19. documentation -- a process consisting of several activities,
namely:
a) determining what information is needed and establishing
means for acquiring it;
b) recording the discovered information and storing such in
appropriate containers (called documents) or collecting
already-existing documents containing the needed
information;
c) organising the documents to make them more accessible;
and
d) actually providing the documents to users who need the
information.

20. There are different tools and techniques that can be used to
carry out information work effectively:
- Interviewing techniques and other forms of data gathering
- Standard forms
- Lists of standard terms
- Storage devices
- Computers
- Filing systems
- Retrieval devices
- Record numbering systems
Processing – action taken on data, usually with the use of a
certain tool, so that the data become more informative and thus
useful

21. Through processing, one body of information is
transformed into another type. For instance:
• separate accounts and pieces of evidence can be
weighed and consolidated to produce a case report
• narrative information can be divided into pieces of
data and entered into a form
• statistics generated from a database can be analyzed
and packaged into an annual comprehensive report