Note: OHCHR is in the process of revising this Manual. Please see the Manual on Human Rights Monitoring (Revised edition) published in 2011 for updated chapters on some of the topics in this Manual.

This Manual is one component of a two-part package of materials for training on human rights monitoring for United Nations human rights officers and other human rights monitors. The Manual provides practical guidance principally for the conduct of human rights monitoring in United Nations field operations, but it may also be useful to other human rights monitors. It is mainly based on the experience developed by the United Nations in recent years, through the work of various human rights field operations. It sets forth applicable international human rights and humanitarian lay; approaches to identifying human rights violations, information-gathering, interviewing, visits to persons in detention, visits to displaces persons in camps, monitoring the return of refugees and internally displace persons, trial observation, election observation, monitoring demonstrations, monitoring economic rights, preparation of reports, interventions with local authorities and other follow-up; history of United Nations monitoring standards, etc. In addition, the Manual provides suggestions for norms applicable to the work of human rights officers in file operations and how they can handle the challenges of stress and security they will encounter.