5 Methods Used to Document Human Rights Data by Sri Lankan Organizations

There are many human rights documentation methods used by human rights organizations to document human rights. In this article, 5 sucsessful methods used by Sri Lankan human rights organizations are discussed. The human rights documentation methods discussed in this article are, HURIDOCS, Early Warning System, Newspaper Clippings on Killings, Monitoring Reporting of Violations of Human Rights in the Print Media and Recording Past Violations of Human Rights.
HURIDOCS
HURIDOCS is the method used by Centre for Human Rights and Development to document human rights for the purposes of monitoring, advocacy and lobbying, cataloging, intervention, information gathering and research.

It is an easy system used for worldwide campaigning. HURIDOCS cater for international bodies such as the United Nations. When using HURIDOCS, it is necessary to follow the standard format.

Early Warning System
Foundation for Co-Existence uses the Early Warning System to extract information on conflicts early to prevent violence. Early warning system is a simple means of information gathering using FAST Methodology indicators on conflict and peace events. It analyses conflict and threats. Early warning system could identify events at micro level. Early Warning System could quantify the data gathered and could generate qualified reports. Processing and finding the crucial indexes, goes beyond documenting to really preventing violence. A challenge in using this system is that there could be risks of self-fulfilling prophecy.

Newspaper Clippings on Killings
Centre for Policy Alternatives is collecting newspaper clippings on killings to find and monitor patterns of violence. This gives a sense of the macro situation of grave human rights violations in the country. The findings of documenting newspaper clippings are used for lobbing and highlighting human rights issues in Sri Lanka and abroad. Archaiving newspaper clippings of killings are a way to ensure that the public does not forget past events.

Monitoring Reporting of Violations of Human Rights in the Print Media
Consortium of Humanitarian Agencies is monitoring human rights violations reported in print media (Newspapers), to identify patterns and causes of HR violations. Through monitoring violations reported in newspapers, it is possible to trace trends. The records helps national and international organizations to intervene on human rights issues.

Recording Past Violations of Human Rights
Past violations of human rights are recorded by Home for Human Rights to identify patterns and trends of violations (i.e., area-wise trends, how media reports violations), and to provide an extensive overview of incidents of violations. The information is adopted and records are developed using Analyzer approach. Information gathered dated back to 1970’s. Findings are used for advocacy purpose. Sharing information of recorded past violations is challenging due to reasons of privacy, confidentiality, security.

Reference
Adopted based on presentations at the Forum on Documenting Human Rights Violations (May 2007) organized by FLICT