F. Monitoring

While not always thought of as an implementation measure, monitoring too has a key role. Through monitoring, it is possible to see which implementation measures have worked and which have not. It helps to refine laws and policies and other implementation measures, and ensure that budgets are used optimally. It also helps to uncover human rights breaches so that remedies can be granted to victims and, it is hoped, further breaches prevented.

Paramount is the process of State parties reporting to the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Civil society and national human rights institutions can also provide information to the Committee through what are called alternative reports. Module 7 examines State reports and alternative reports in detail.

In addition to monitoring at the international level, monitoring can also be national. According to the OHCHR Manual on Human Rights Monitoring,11 “human rights monitoring” is a broad term describing the active collection, verification, analysis and use of information to assess and address human rights concerns. Monitoring takes place over a protracted period of time. The term “monitoring” also includes the collection, verification and use of information to address human rights problems raised in relation to laws, policies, programmes and budgets and other interventions.

Several aspects of this definition are worth highlighting:

Monitoring focuses mainly on:

Anyone can monitor the situation of the rights of persons with disabilities. However, certain actors have particular responsibilities:

As set out in article 31 on data collection and statistics, by collecting appropriate information, including statistical and research data, States are enabled to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the Convention. The Convention's implementation can be stepped up through evidence-based policy implementation, based on domestic monitoring and reporting, as well as on reports to the Committee and the Committee's concluding observations.