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Send to friendShadow reports, also referred to as alternative or parallel reports, are documents submitted by NGO’s to international treaty body organizations which supplement and challenge the periodic country reports that governments are required to submit as a party to the treaty. The findings of treaty bodies, such as the Committee for the Convention of the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW), are significantly influential to the development of human rights in the respective member states. Through shadow reports, NGO’s can incorporate themselves into this evaluation process, strengthening and expanding their cause.
The International Women’s Rights Action Watch – Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), a group committed to organizing the shadow reporting process for the CEDAW committee, has published a helpful informational guide for NGO’s wishing to utilize shadow reporting tactics. This advice is applicable not only to organizations concerned with the CEDAW, but to all organizations interested in shadow reporting.
IWRAW-AP provides us with some fundamental tips for all NGO’s to get started with writing a shadow report:
- Organize your report in relation to the organization of the concerned treaty (for instance, each subheading of your report should correspond to an article of the treaty). This will keep your report easy to follow and rooted in the relevant treaty law.
- Aside from giving relevant information that your organization has researched, be sure to critique the corresponding information provide by the State. The importance of your shadow report lies in the alternative information being presented, so be sure to emphasize when applicable that the State’s report is insufficient or one-sided.
- Finally, the treaty body’s concluding comments from the last country report can be the perfect starting point to identify potential research areas in which the State is not fulfilling its duties as prescribed by the concerned treaty.
Emerging and smaller NGO’s looking to grow in influence may find shadow reporting to be a considerably influential tactic, either on their own or in collaboration with other organizations. For those with more interest, don’t forget to check back in at New Tactics in August for the online dialogue featuring Shadow Reports. Experts from diverse backgrounds will be sharing their experiences in the possible uses and efficacy of shadow reports.
Bibliography:
1. http://www.iwraw-ap.org/using_cedaw/sreport_guidelines.htm
2. “Participation in the CEDAW Reporting Process: Process and Guidelines for Writing a Shadow/Alternative Report.” October 2007. IWRAW-AP.
Uighar Minority Shadow Reports Preceded July 2009 Protests
Regarding my previous entry concerning the use of shadow reporting, the recent news from the Xinjiang Uighar Autonomous Region in the People's Republic of China exemplifies how shadow reporting can illuminate human rights violations.
In November of 2008, the committee for the CAT reviewed, among others, the Chinese country report. Along with this report came more than a dozen shadow reports from a variety of different organizations. In retrospect, two of these reports (those from Amnesty International and from the Unrepresented Peoples Organization and the World Uyghur Congress collaboration) brought to attention the practices of the Chinese governement which the ongoing protests are calling to attention. Both of these reports touch on the legal discrimination against ethnic Uighurs and the torture that their ethnic leaders have been subjected to under the nomenclature of threats to national security, especially during a decade when muslims are prone to being aligned to the war on terror. In both reports names like Husein Dzhelil and Ablikim Abdiriyim, son of exiled human rights activist Rebiya Kadeer who was blamed by Chinese government officials for fueling the July 2009 protests and riots, are mentionned.
In this instance, shadow reporting has highlighted issues months prior to their emergence in mainstream public media, demonstrating the ability to push issues on an international agenda of treaty bodies. Unfortunately, these particular shadow reports remained hidden in legal dialogue until now. The positive side, however, is that the international community has already been made aware of this situation. To conclude, it is my hope that these protests will push the issue forward on agendas so that a sincere discussion concering national minorities can begin with the Chinese authorities.
Phillip Paiement New Tactics Intern