I. INTRODUCTION

HURIDOCS is a global network of groups and individuals concerned with human rights and information. The network members collectively work towards more effective collection and management, greater use and wider dissemination of information in advancing the cause of human rights. HURIDOCS works especially for the empowerment of civil society formations, to enable them to assert their human rights more forcefully and achieve them with greater success. In order to achieve this goal, HURIDOCS provides services such as training and tool and techniques development.

In 1999, HURIDOCS engaged in numerous activities to fulfil its mission. The emphasis was on its tool development programme, as training can be more intensified once the revised and new tools will be finalised. The tools that were given priority for continued development in 1999 are:

a) WinEvsys -- the Windows-based tool for monitoring human rights violations
b) resources for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights
c) HURISEARCH: a search engine for human rights information on the Web

Building further on the conclusions and recommendations of the 1998 Fourth General Assembly, 1999 was also a year of stock-taking and long-term planning for HURIDOCS.

This report provides a summary of activities undertaken in 1999.

II. TRAINING PROGRAMME

The HURIDOCS Training Programme involves the teaching of tools developed in the HURIDOCS network, such as the computer software WinEvsys, as well as related areas of skills and knowledge (e.g., international standards and how they are used in identifying violations).

Most of the training activities undertaken by HURIDOCS in 1999 were in the form of workshops and courses, as these facilitate exchange of skills and knowledge among persons of various backgrounds. Because many of the tools and topics taught were very new, training was mainly provided by HURIDOCS officers and Secretariat staff. Local resource persons were involved as much as possible, so as to widen training expertise in the various regions.

The HURIDOCS Secretariat also provided advisory services through communication with users of various HURIDOCS tools.

Following are specific training activities undertaken by HURIDOCS within the year:

1. Training session in Berlin, Germany

Several HURIDOCS tools were presented in the course of the 22nd European Coordination Human Rights Coordination Committee (ECCHRD) meeting held in Berlin from 19 to 20 March 1999. ECHRDC is a Europe-wide network of human rights documentalists and information workers which meets annually to discuss issues of human rights documentation. Its 22nd meeting was attended by around 50 participants.

In the discussion on HURIDOCS tools, emphasis was given to the project of the HURIDOCS search engine that will crawl through sites of human rights NGOs. James Lawson and Bert Verstappen, a member of the Continuation Committee and Information Officer of HURIDOCS respectively, jointly presented this project. Also other activities, like the project on developing methodologies for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights, were presented.

The meeting was preceded by a one-day training session presented by Burkhard Luber, an information specialist from Germany. The session consisted of a combination of theory and practice of information management, on-line information retrieval (search tools) and NGO networking, with examples of several useful resources. It was attended by more than twenty participants.

2. Training Workshop in Mexico

A national training workshop on documentation and the use of the international systems for defence and protection of human rights was held for members of the Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos "Todos los Derechos para Todos" from 13 to 19 June 1999. It was organised by this network in co-operation with Centre for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), the Instituto Mexicano para el Desarrollo Comunitario (IMDEC), the Universidad Iberoamericana and HURIDOCS. The course was for further specialisation, as follow-up to a course held in 1996. Because of the nature of the workshop, it was attended mainly by lawyers from 13 Mexican organisations, and involved six days of intensive work.

Resource persons for the workshop were Carmen Herrera, a lawyer and expert in both national and international law and Director of the Regional Office of CEJIL in Central America; Pilar Noriega, a lawyer with great experience in Mexican litigation and an expert on Mexican legislation; and Aida Maria Noval of HURIDOCS, expert in documentation and systematic information handling.

Participants were requested to bring actual cases of human rights violations that their organisations were dealing with. Each case was thoroughly studied, and issues such as insufficient documentation and choice of litigation tactics were identified and discussed.

3. Training Course in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

A national training course for Congolese human rights NGOs was held from 21 to 26 June 1999 in Kinshasa, at the request of the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). The course was primarily on techniques of documenting human rights violations. Representatives from 25 NGOs both from Kinshasa and outlying regions of the DRC took part in the course.

James Lawson, Head of the Information Centre of the Council of Europe and member of the HURIDOCS Continuation Committee, was the main resource person. The beta version of WinEvsys, a HURIDOCS software, was presented as a tool for monitoring human rights violations.

Three Congolese trainers were involved in sessions on topics as the international system for the protection of human rights, the basics of fact-finding, and electronic dissemination of information.

4. Training for Asia-Pacific women’s organisations

This course, organised by the Coalition against Trafficking in Women-Asia Pacific (CATW-AP) was held from 12 to 18 July in Manila, the Philippines. The main resource person was HURIDOCS Executive Director Manuel Guzman, assisted by Cathy Clarin de Jesus, a staff member of the local women group WEDPRO (Women's Education, Development, Productivity and Research Organisation). Most of the participants, numbering 18 in all, were from the Philippines, while some were from other parts of Asia. The course involved the adaptation of the HURIDOCS tools for use in monitoring violence against women. The use of WinEvsys was a major topic, as well as the presentation by the CATW of preliminary lists of gender-responsive terminologies.

Prior to the regional training, a smaller training workshop for six persons with knowledge of Evsys, the earlier DOS-based version of the tool, was conducted by Manuel Guzman. The aim was to teach the participants with advanced features of WinEvsys so that they can become trainers themselves.

5. Training for Nicaraguan NGOs

HURIDOCS Continuation Committee member Aida Maria Noval provided training in Nicaragua for two NGOs - the Centro Nicaraguense de Derechos Humanos (CENIDH) and the Asociación Nicaraguense pro Derechos Humanos (ANPDH) - on the subject of improving documentation of cases to be presented to the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights. The training for CENIDH took place on 22 October 1999, and the training for ANPDH was on 25 and 26 October 1999. The training was conducted at invitation of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

6. Training for Guatemalan NGOs

Aida Maria Noval was likewise invited by CEJIL to provide training in Guatemala for the Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Guatemala (FAMDEGUA), an organisation of the relatives of political detainees and "disappeared" persons, and other NGOS, also on the subject of improving documentation of cases to be presented to the Interamerican Commission of Human Rights. The training took place on 28 and 29 October 1999.

7. East Timor Human Rights Centre

HURIDOCS continued to provide support to the East Timor Human Rights Centre (ETHRC) which it had trained on techniques of human rights documentation in 1997. The ETHRC is a NGO concerned with human rights violations in East Timor under Indonesian rule. Due to the past political climate there, it has been based in Melbourne, Australia.

HURIDOCS International Advisory Council Member Kathleen Maltzahn, based in Melbourne, was engaged by the Centre as consultant, while the HURIDOCS Secretariat provided regular advice on how to adapt WinEvsys to suit the Centre's particular needs.

8. Training for the Indonesian Human Rights Commission

From 4 to 20 November 1999, HURIDOCS Executive Director Manuel Guzman provided training to the Commission of Inquiry into East Timor, a body formed by the Indonesian Commission on Human Rights to investigate human rights violations that took place in East Timor in the wake of the national referendum for independence held in August 1999.

When post-referendum violence broke out, the Indonesian Commission on Human Rights decided to conduct the inquiry, and requested assistance from the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in terms of training. The OHCHR in turn engaged Mr. Guzman to provide this training, which consisted of the following subjects:

a) international human rights standards
b) identifying and categorising violations
c) techniques of investigation, including conduct of fact-finding missions
d) documentation techniques
e) systematic information handling
f) human rights report-writing

9. African Human Rights Camp in Tanzania

The African Human Rights camp is an annual month-long workshop that provides training to NGOs from all over Africa, on a wide range of human rights topics such as the international and regional instruments for the protection of human rights and the role and work of NGOs. The 1999 edition was held in Tanzania in November. Lalaine Sadiwa, Camp training consultant, gave a presentation of the HURIDOCS tools, in particular the Standard Formats on Events, followed by a discussion. HURIDOCS also provided training materials for the participants.

10. Training manual

The manual for HURIDOCS trainers Training the HURIDOCS Way discusses general techniques of training and includes specific HURIDOCS training modules. HURIDOCS continued to compile materials for it, and modified its contents. The number of training modules was increased to 24 with the addition of two more modules, namely:

- Module 23: Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
- Module 24: Using the HURIDOCS Search Engine

Copies of the draft training manual were sent to experienced HURIDOCS trainers for their feedback. The manual will be the main resource material in the coming Asian trainer's training course planned in early 2000, which will be a suitable occasion to test the manual.

III. TOOLS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME

The Tools Development Programme lies at the core of HURIDOCS work. In developing tools and techniques for the human rights community, HURIDOCS aims to harness the vast expertise and experience in the network, in a continuous and participatory process. The programme seeks out the "best practices" from all over the world, brings together individuals from various backgrounds to discuss these practices and develops universal tools. It then brings back these tools into the network for direct use or for adaptations, asking for feedback in order to further refine the tools. Thus, the development of HURIDOCS tools has been mainly done by working groups set up by the HURIDOCS Continuation Committee.

1. Revision of the Events Standard Formats, Micro-thesauri and WinEvsys

The HURIDOCS Events Standard Formats is a set of formats used in recording information on acts of human rights violations, victims, perpetrators and other related information. They are used together with a number of lists of terms, called micro-thesauri, which list types of acts, geographical divisions of the world, categories of victim characteristics, etc. The revision of the Formats and the micro-thesauri was undertaken to allow human rights organisations to monitor and document a wider range of issues.

The two-year revision process, undertaken by Judith Dueck, Manuel Guzman and Bert Verstappen, was completed in 1999, and involved receiving inputs from various sources, especially testers and users like trade union groups, women groups, etc.

While the Events Standard Formats and micro-thesauri were being revised, they were also "translated" into a Windows-based computer software, called WinEvsys. The actual programming of WinEvsys is done by Ricardo Cifuentes, an information specialist from Chile. The working group that supervised its development, the WinEvsys Design Team, consists of Ricardo Cifuentes, Judith Dueck, Manuel Guzman, Romilly Gregory and Bjørn Stormorken. The Team met in February 1999 in Geneva to chart the development plan for WinEvsys.

Shortly afterwards, a beta (preliminary) version was finished, which was introduced to the East Timor Human Rights Centre in June 1999 and used in training courses in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the Philippines. It was also demonstrated during the Guatemala and Nicaragua training sessions. These occasions allowed for intensive testing of the software. In September 1999, the WinEvsys Design Team approved a number of substantial design changes to improve the software. At the end of 1999, programming was completed, and WinEvsys has been distributed to several interested organisations.

For more information on the Events Standard Formats and Winevsys, see the brochure of this project.

2. Resources for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights

Since mid-1996, HURIDOCS and the Science and Human Rights Program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) have been implementing a project to develop resources for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights. The first 3-year phase of the project ended in 1999, with the following achievements:

a) Background papers

Two sets of papers were commissioned on the start of the project, mainly to guide the project implementors as to the direction of the project. At the same time, these papers are by themselves useful resources. The first set consists of twelve papers which examined in depth the content of the various rights enumerated in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

The second set of papers examined the impact of globalisation on the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. Four papers dealt with regional realities (Africa, Asia, Latin America and OECD countries in transition) and a fifth one on the impact on women, especially in the South.

In 1999, these papers were further reviewed and updated, in preparation for their publication in early 2000.

b) Thesaurus of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

The Thesaurus of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights was completed in 1999. It consists of a very large number of terms related to economic, social and cultural rights, and offers cross-references among them. It is the foundation of an actual monitoring system and serves as an educational tool at the same time.

A complete electronic version was developed for the World Wide Web, taking full advantage of the Web's powerful linking capabilities, and is now accessible at http://shr.aaas.org/thesaurus/. It was also translated into Spanish and presented to the Federation of Latin American Ombudsmen (FIO) at their fourth congress in Tegucigalpa, Honduras, in September 1999.

c) Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

This manual explains economic, social and cultural rights and related matters in a popular way, with national-level NGOs as the main audience. Its writing was completed at the end of 1999. Earlier, it was reviewed by NGOs in Canada and the Philippines, as well as by personnel affiliated with the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. It was also presented in a workshop during the May 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace conference.

d) Rights-specific monitoring manuals

Five institutional partners were identified and each agreed to write a monitoring main economic, social and cultural rights: the rights to work, housing, food, health and education. These rights-specific manuals will contain practical pointers for human rights NGOs, such as the use of appropriate indicators in monitoring.

e) General guide to monitoring economic, social and cultural rights

The project staff have started the writing of this general guide, meant as a companion manual to the Handbook on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, written for the same audience and in the same style, but focusing on how to monitor. It will complement the rights-specific resource manuals by presenting and explaining general and common principles and techniques of monitoring, including monitoring direct acts of violations and the use of indicators.

f) Other achievements

Partners like CELS (Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales) in Argentina, and the Centre for Human Rights of the University of Pretoria in South Africa have been asked and have agreed to take part actively in the field-testing of resources produced in the project.

Planning for the second 3-year phase of the project was also done in 1999. Among the key components of the next phase are field testing, completion of the rights-specific monitoring manuals and general guide, and capacity-building for NGOs through training activities.

For more details on this project, see its Web site: http://shr.aaas.org/escr/.

3. HURISEARCH (Human Rights Information Search Engine)

HURISEARCH, the search engine being developed by HURIDOCS, aims to facilitate the search of human rights information on the Web by allowing users to search in one go through all sites in the project. HURISEARCH will regularly visit and index the sites of the participating organisations.

The launching of actual operations is foreseen to be in early 2000. Leading to this, Continuation Committee member James Lawson has been working on the technical aspects of the project, while the HURIDOCS Secretariat has been identifying and contacting potential participants. Some 700 sites of human rights NGOs which are relevant to the project have been identified. A large number have already been contacted and have willingly agreed to participate. Among these are:

a) general human rights organisations such as Human Rights Internet and the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights
b) groups focusing on particular themes, such as the Project Disappeared, the International Freedom of Expression Exchange Clearing House and the World University Service
c) groups focusing on particular countries, such as the Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, the Iranian Human Rights Working Group and PROVEA (Venezuela)
d) organisations dealing with peace, conflict and refugee issues such as the U.S. Committee for Refugees
e) women’s groups such as the Sisterhood is Global Institute, Terre des Femmes and the Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women

4. HURIDOCS List of Index Terms

The HURIDOCS List of Index Terms contains terms which are generally used in the bibliographical description of human rights information materials. It is seen as a practical tool which will be useful in itself for many small documentation centres, and which, at the same time, can be expanded by large documentation centres to provide greater specificity as required.

In early 1999, HURIDOCS Continuation Committee member Agnethe Olesen reviewed the List of Index Terms and proposed additional terms. A working group consisting of several documentation experts from various regions was set up in order to finalise the list, a task that is to be finished in early 2000.

IV. OUTREACH AND INFORMATION PROGRAMME

The orientation of this programme is to keep the network members informed about and involved in network activities, including key initiatives undertaken by the larger human rights movement. It complements the Tools and Techniques Development Programme and the Training Programme by developing and sustaining a dynamic network necessary to enrich the undertakings and products of these two programmes. The programme involves regional networking, thematic networking, collaboration with other initiatives, publications and other forms of information dissemination. HURIDOCS has particularly played a very important role in the establishment and continuing operations of regional human rights information networks.

The following specific activities were undertaken in 1999:

1. Asian network

At the HURIDOCS General Assembly held in Tunis on 26 March 1998, it was decided that the Asian regional network would take the form of a committee for training of trainers in Asia. This was because the most urgent need felt in the region was to have more resource persons to provide training, advice and support to human rights groups in the region.

The activities of the Asian Committee for Training of Trainers are co-ordinated by two active members of the International Advisory Council, Agnes Camacho in the Philippines and Kathleen Maltzahn in Australia. In collaboration with the HURIDOCS Secretariat, they have made preparations for the conduct of a training course for Asian-based trainers, planned to take place in the Philippines during the first half of 2000.

2. Latin American and Caribbean network

The regional network for this region is called Red de Informatica y Documentación en Derechos Humanos para America Latina y el Caribe (RIDHUALC). Secretariat functions are discharged by the Asociación pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) in Peru.

The members of the RIDHUALC Steering Committee, Aida Maria Noval of the HURIDOCS Continuation Committee, and several others met in Santiago de Chile on 29 April 1999, and developed a number of plans for the future. RIDHUALC has set up a mailing list and intends to create its own Web site. Four working groups were established in order to deal with preventive conservation, archiving audio-visual material, digital archives and reorganising information. RIDHUALC plans to hold a conference on "The use of information for the struggle against impunity" which is to be combined with a meeting of the network.

3. European network

The 22nd meeting of the European Human Rights Documentation Coordination Committee (EHRDCC) was held in Berlin from 19-20 March 1999. The local host was the Behandlungszentrum für Folteropfer (Rehabilitation Centre for Torture Victims). The meeting was attended by around 50 participants from the various parts of Europe, and consisted of updates and discussions on micro-networks and the activities of HURIDOCS, as well as thematic working groups, plus a discussion on the future role of information workers. The meeting also started planning for future activities, including the 23^rd meeting planned to take place in Barcelona in March 2000 in Barcelona, to be hosted by the Catalonian Institute for Human Rights.

4. Arab Human Rights Information and Documentation Network (AHRINET)

The regional network Arab Human Rights Information Network (AHRINET) was established by a large number of organisations in the region in December 1995. It aims to enhance skills and knowledge on human rights information handling and promote collaboration and the exchange of information among organisations in the region. In 1999, AHRINET provided training for NGOs, and published the Arabic translation of HURIDOCS tools. A database for documenting violations of human rights was set up at the Arab Organisation for Human Rights.

5. Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

The HURIDOCS Secretariat continued to perform Secretariat functions for the Martin Ennals Foundation which gives out annual awards to deserving human rights defenders.

The 6^th Martin Ennals Award (for the year 1999) was given to Natasha Kandic, Executive Director of the Humanitarian Law Centre in Belgrade. The ceremony, organised by the Martin Ennals Foundation and the Ludwig Boltzmann Institute for Human Rights, took place in Vienna on 30 September 1999.

The Humanitarian Law Centre has investigated many of the worst abuses of international humanitarian law during the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia and has published a series of well-researched reports entitled Human Rights Violations in Times of Armed Conflict documenting the most brutal abuses suffered by Muslims, Croats as well as Serbs during 1991- 1994. It continued to produce a steady stream of reports to expose issues such as police violence in Serbia and Montenegro, abuses against refugees, the increasing repression of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo and its tragic culmination in armed conflict and mass atrocities.

6. Newsletter

HURIDOCS News No. 23, a Special Issue on the Tunisia International Conference and HURIDOCS General Assembly, was published in English, French and Spanish in January 1999, and distributed to over 2000 readers worldwide.

7. HURIDOCS web site and mailing lists

The HURIDOCS home page, located at http://www.huridocs.org, contains several HURIDOCS tools and other publications, including the Standard Formats, the annual programme and the newsletter. The page has been regularly updated, and has been receiving an increasing number of visitors.

HURIDOCS also continued to maintain two public mailing lists, in order to allow sharing of information among participants in the network. The list huridocs-gen-l contains announcements of activities and other general messages. The list huridocs-tech, hosted by the Human Rights Education Associates in the United States, contains messages about development in information technology and how they affect human rights, including issues like technical developments, freedom of expression and privacy.

HURIDOCS set up a new list, indi-health-l, in order to facilitate contacts among NGO participants of the International Consultation on the Health of Indigenous Peoples, hosted by the World Health Organisation in Geneva, November 1999. The list was continued after the Consultation.

8. Other information work and outreach work

HURIDOCS has been aware that a major area of systematising information dissemination in the future involves the use of mark-up languages. In this regard, the Secretariat continued to update itself of developments regarding the Extensible Markup Language (XML) and the International Development Markup Language (IDML) Initiative for standard setting within the international development community.

The HURIDOCS Secretariat, in the course of the whole year, received a number of visitors at the office. They were briefed on the work of HURIDOCS. Among them is the Commissioner of Human Rights of the Russian Federation who expressed interest in utilising HURIDOCS tools for his office's work, and intends to send interns to the Secretariat.

Plans have been drawn up to start distribution of HURIDOCS tools by CD-ROM in 2000.

V. INSTITUTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

STRATEGIC PLANNING

In February 1999, the HURIDOCS Continuation Committee (Board) discussed the conclusions and recommendations of the HURIDOCS General Assembly held in 1998, and developed a draft of a 5-year plan to cover the years 1999-2003. The draft plan was reviewed in November 1999 and readjusted to become the 5-Year Strategic Plan for 2000-2004.

One of the major features of HURIDOCS' new strategic plan is the reorganisation of HURIDOCS activities into five programmes, compared to four programs in the previous years. Reflecting the determination of HURIDOCS to meet the various challenges in the new millennium, these five programmes are:

1. Tools, Standards and Techniques Development
2. Training
3. Consultancy, Advice and Support
4. Information and Outreach
5. Networking and Institutional Development

This reorganisation aims to provide more attention to some identified weaknesses in the past. For one, HURIDOCS’ new programme -- the Consultancy, Advice and Support Programme -- is designed to strengthen continuous on-site support to users of the growing number of HURIDOCS tools. It was also seen that institutional development should to be pursued at the same time that the whole network is made to continue and increase its dynamism.

A key element of the Strategic Plan is the enhancement of training through regional initiatives The programme for 2000 and beyond thus contains provisions for training of trainers and establishment of regional focal points.

LEADERSHIP AND ADMINISTRATION

1. Continuation Committee

The Committee also used both meetings to conduct its strategic planning together with the Secretariat.

2. Task Force on Structure

This Task Force is assigned the task of reviewing the structure of HURIDOCS and drawing up recommendations for improving it. It presented a report during the 1998 HURIDOCS General Assembly. The result was that the Assembly decided that the Task Force should continue its work.

In 1999, all the original members confirmed their continuous membership in the Task Force, and International Advisory Council member Mary Robinson accepted to be the Task Force leader. Several activities have been planned, such as a review of the HURIDOCS Constitution, following a consultation between her and the HURIDOCS Secretariat held in May 1999.

3. Secretariat

Throughout 1999, the Secretariat consisted of three members: Manuel Guzman (Executive Director), Bert Verstappen (Information Officer) and Néjib Ghali (Administrative Officer).

The Canton of Geneva continued to give free office facilities to HURIDOCS for the whole year.

RESOURCE MOBILISATION

1. Contributions from donors

1. Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
   
2. Diaconical Work of the Evangelical Churches in Germany
   
3. Finnish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
   
4. The French Prime Minister’s Office
   
5. Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation, United States
   
6. Norwegian Agency for Development Co-operation (NORAD)
   
7. Swedish International Development Agency.

In addition, the following donors provided financial support to particular activities undertaken by HURIDOCS in the course of the year:

1. Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs
   
2. Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs

The International Development Research Centre also provided a grant, coursed through the Canadian NGO MEDA, which allowed Continuation Committee member Judith Dueck to attend HURIDOCS events within the year.

The Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights covered all the expenses of the mission of Manuel Guzman when he provided training to the Indonesian Human Rights Commission in November 1999.

HURIDOCS would like to sincerely thank all these donors for their generous support. It also wishes to thank the Council of the Canton of Geneva, for granting use of office space to HURIDOCS in Versoix, near Geneva.

2. Voluntary service and other contributions

During 1999, several persons and organisations voluntarily contributed time and expertise to the work of HURIDOCS. HURIDOCS would like to thank all contributors, and in particular the following:

a) the members of the HURIDOCS Continuation Committee
b) the members of the HURIDOCS International Advisory Council
c) the Task Forces on Software Development, Electronic Communication and Structure, and their leaders, respectively James Lawson, Debra Guzman and Mary Robinson
d) the regional networks and their Secretariats, namely:

• the Arab Human Rights Information Network (AHRINET) and the Arab Institute for Human Rights
• the Asian Committee for Training of Trainers - Agnes Camacho and Kathleen Maltzahn for developing a training plan for the region
• the European Human Rights Documentation Coordination Committee and the International Rehabilitation Council for Torture Victims
• the Red de Informatica y Documentación en Derechos Humanos para America Latina y el Caribe (RIDHUALC) and the Asociación pro Derechos Humanos (APRODEH)

e) the Evsys/WinEvsys Design Team members, among them Ricardo Cifuentes, Judith Dueck, Romilly Gregory and Bjørn Stormorken
f) Judith Dueck, co-author of the revision of the HURIDOCS Events Standard Formats: A Tool for Documenting Human Rights Violations
g) the East Timor Human Rights Centre, for intensive testing of the Standard Formats on Events and WinEvsys
h) the Coalition against Trafficking in Women, for intensive testing of the Standard Formats on Events and WinEvsys, and working for their adaptation
i) James Lawson for developing a prototype of a human rights search engine
j) Agnethe Olesen for reviewing the HURIDOCS List of index terms
k) HURINet and its director, Debra Guzman for all her contributions to the HURIDOCS mailing lists
l) Comlink, Germany for hosting various HURIDOCS mailing lists
m) Human Rights Education Associates for hosting and co-ordinating the huridocs-tech mailing list
n) the co-organisers of various training activities, and in particular:

• the Berlin Centre for Torture Victims
• the Red Nacional de Organismos Civiles de Derechos Humanos "Todos los Derechos para Todos"
• the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo
• the Coalition Against Trafficking in Women - Asia Pacific
• the Centre for Justice and International Law
• the Asociación Nicaraguense pro Derechos Humanos
• the Centro Nicaraguense de Derechos Humanos
• the Familiares de Detenidos y Desaparecidos de Guatemala
• the Indonesian Commission on Human Rights
• the Office of the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights in Indonesia

o) the Direct Protection Centre for Human Rights, Zagreb and the Harold Light Centre for Human Rights, St. Petersburg for their translations of HURIDOCS tools in Croatian and Russian respectively.

VI. CONCLUSION

With so much to do, HURIDOCS set certain priorities at the start of the year. By year's end, these were accomplished as planned. For instance. emphasis was given on the development, review or further improvement of major HURIDOCS tools.

Another major achievement for the year is the development of a Five-Year Plan, ensuring a coherent series of annual programmes for HURIDOCS in the years to come.

At the same time, HURIDOCS has been able to conduct many other activities satisfactorily. For instance, nine training events were conducted within the year.

The audited financial report of HURIDOCS may not accurately reflect the extent of HURIDOCS activities. For one, many activities in the HURIDOCS network were administered largely by partner organisations, where the funds or part of them were received directly by the co-organisers. Also, voluntary service and other forms of contribution have not been adequately included in the financial report.

In summary, it can be said that HURIDOCS accomplished a lot by working as a true network, where the members actively did their part.