How to strategically disseminate an annual report ?

Although the OPCAT refers to the state’s obligation to disseminate NPM reports, in practice it is a task that is performed by the NPM. The NPM should therefore guarantee that it receives and allocates sufficient funds, time and personnel every year to publish and disseminate the report, including to the authorities and other interested parties.

The NPM should adopt a specific strategy for dissemination of the report, which can include the following actions:

• Presentation of the report to high-level authorities, including through a formal hearing with the parliament.
• Bilateral meetings with the head of government, and inter-institutional roundtables with several ministries.
• Public event to launch the report and raise awareness, as well as spark debate on key issues.
• Press conference and release of a media kit.
• Working meetings with other stakeholders, in particular civil society organisations, bar associations and other actors interacting with the NPM and who can play a role in the implementation of its recommendations.
• Wide dissemination of the report (by email and regular mail) to all the above-mentioned institutions and organisations.
• Bringing a set of copies of the annual report to lectures, training events and meetings during the year in order to help present the NPM and the work it does.
• Publicising the report on social media.
• Publish thematic articles drawn from the annual report one by one over the following year.
• Distribution of the report to detention libraries, where it can be accessed by staff and persons deprived of liberty.

Although not the target audience of NPM reports, a number of international human rights bodies and mechanisms have an interest in NPM annual reports, in particular the SPT, other international and regional bodies and other NPMs. It is therefore also important for the NPM to ensure wide dissemination of its annual report beyond its national borders. A good practice is to send NPM annual reports to the SPT, who, in turn, publicizes them on its own website. It is also useful for NPMs to send their reports to other NPMs and to relevant regional and international human rights bodies working on detention issues as a way of engaging and sharing information that can feed into their deliberation.

Annual reports should be translated into the national languages of the country in which the NPM operates, including indigenous languages. For the purpose of international dissemination and to facilitate future exchanges on the content of the report with the SPT, it is also a good practice to publish the full report (or at least its executive summary) in English.