The reporting system also facilitates accountability by allowing human
rights organizations to access updates for cases they submitted, contact
CHRAJ case officers to inquire about progress, and provide
case-relevant documentation. Aggregated data on reported complaints are
also available and can inform future advocacy efforts. With aggregated
data, the CHRAJ Health Rights Task Team can calculate case submission,
response, and closure rates, as well as the average time for cases to
move through the system. (Williamson, Wondergem and Amenyah 2014).
Challenges do remain. We know that civil society organizations only
report about 60 percent of potential cases to CHRAJ. Cases go unreported
because clients do not trust that their information will remain
private, do not understand their cases involve human rights abuses, or
because clients or civil society organizations do not have the necessary
skills to use the system. Another challenges are the lack of experience
with PLHIV and key populations, weak IT infrastructure, and poor
privacy and confidentiality policies. In other countries, different
needs and concerns may arise during system development and use in other
settings. Privacy and confidentiality concerns are the most significant
barrier to reporting. To secure client privacy, CHRAJ does not follow
standard case management procedures when it receives a case. It uses a
separate process that limits the number of people who see the case, and
expedites review and action. These are important issues to address in
this system, and for any future web-based reporting system (Williamson,
Wondergem and Amenyah 2014).
Another reviewed existing system is the
Tanzania Commission for Human Rights and Good Governance (CHRAGG)
reporting system. CHRAGG is a member of the ICT4Democracy in East Africa
Network whose work is supported by the Swedish International
Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and the Swedish Programme for ICT
in Developing Regions (Spider). The network is coordinated by the
Collaboration on International ICT Policy for East and Southern Africa
(CIPESA). In pursuit of strategic mechanisms to promote and protect
human rights in Tanzania, the Commission for Human Rights and Good
Governance (CHRAGG) has embraced the use of digital technologies to
advance the right to health among vulnerable communities and human
rights practitioners in five regions in Tanzania (Ict4democracy, 2016).
In December 2012, CHRAGG launched the SMS for Human Rights System to
make it easier for citizens to report human rights violations. Since
then, the commission has conducted campaigns throughout Tanzania to
raise awareness about the system. This has greatly boosted the number of
reports received through SMS. CHRAGG embarked on a campaign that
leverages its SMS for Human Rights reporting system to improve rights
awareness and protection for some hitherto marginalized groups. Under
the drive, up to 100 commission staff at the head office in Dar es
Salaam and three regional offices (Mwanza, Lindi and Zanzibar) have been
trained to improve their understating of the right to health and to
enable them to appropriately handle related violation reports received
through the digital platform. As a result of the training, CHRAGG staff
have better understanding of minority rights and have incorporated this
knowledge into their daily work. As stated by one staff member, the
training enabled them to make the link between the right to health, free
expression and equality. “I never thought other rights are covered in
right to health,†he said. Another noted, “I did not know that the
commission could be involved in this,†referring to protection of the
right to health. However, training participants highlighted concerns in
using the system such as slow resolution of reports. Going forward,
commission staff are expected to specifically categorize health rights
violation reports received from minority and vulnerable groups as part
of case handling procedures and work towards their speedy resolution.
Also the system also does not involve provision of evidence as file
cannot be send as SMS and the message will not be structured according
to the procedure format (Ict4democracy, 2016).
We also reviewed the Jamaican Network of Seropositive (JN+) experience with a web-based National HIV Related Discrimination Reporting and Redress System, where the importance of institutional capacity to support access to justice was clear. The NHDRRS is a system that collects and investigate complaints of HIV-related discrimination across Jamaica and refers them to the appropriate entities for redress. The first complaint was documented through JN+ in 2005, but the NHDRRS was formally established in 2007 with funding from USAID and the
Ministry of Health. We found that JN+’s role within the system is only to receives complaints on HIVrelated discrimination against persons living with HIV and AIDS, it must refer cases to other institutions to seek redress. Within 30 days of receipt, JN+ contacts the complainant for an interview. After the interview, a file is created for follow-up by an investigative team appointed by the NHDRRS advisory group, who examines and determines the validity of the accusations, and then make recommendations for redress. An established entity then performs the redress intervention in collaboration with JN+, such as counselling, advice, litigation, and advocacy. The case can be closed at the complainant' s request, at the investigative team' s recommendation, or when the redress intervention is complete. Furthermore, JN+ has difficulty closing cases due to staff turnover, weak investigative capacity, and poor systems for referring criminal cases to prosecutors. As a result of these challenges, case reporting is limited, with 180 complaints documented from 2005 to 2009 (Stewart and Williamson, 2017).
