In Highlight: SIMORE Plus Monitoring Tool

3 November 2023

Stakeholders at both national and international levels have introduced a growing number of digital human rights tracking tools and databases (DHRTTDs) designed to facilitate a more holistic approach to human rights monitoring and implementation.

Via its DHRTTDs Directory, the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) provides a comprehensive list and description of such key tools and databases. But how to navigate them? Which tool should be used for what, and by whom?

In this interview, Dr Domenico Zipoli, Project Coordinator at the Geneva Human Rights Platform (GHRP) and Pamela Peralta, former SIMORE Plus Consultant for UNDP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Paraguay help us understand better the specificities of these tools and tells us about the November highlight of the directory: SIMORE Plus.

What is special about this tool? What differentiate SIMORE Plus from other tracking tools and databases?

SIMORE Plus stands for Monitoring System of International Recommendations on Human Rights and Sustainable Development Goals (by its Spanish acronym). It comprises a digital monitoring and reporting tool that facilitates the systematization and tracking of international human rights recommendations made to Paraguay by United Nations (UN) human rights treaty bodies, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), UN Special Procedures and the resolutive points of the judgements adopted by the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

Technical cooperation provided by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Regional Office for South America and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Paraguay allowed the development of this ‘Plus’ version that incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and links the monitoring of human rights recommendations to the SDGs. This ‘Plus’ version also includes consultation and feedback features for civil society organizations within a dedicated space within the broader digital tool, called CSO Plus.

SIMORE Plus is an open-access tool: its data and content are not limited to government officers or civil society organizations but also made accessible to the public, thus promoting transparency, accountability and collaboration. Registration is however required for both government and civil society representatives in order to provide regular input and more detailed information on progress made vis-à-vis each recommendation.

How many national versions of SIMORE Plus exist? Who runs them?

SIMORE Plus is run by the Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Justice of Paraguay but other governments, National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs), international organizations, and other interested entities can adapt the tool to develop their own versions, with their own separate installation, database and server infrastructure. In that regard, the SIMORE Paraguay Technical Cooperation Programme has provided the SIMORE Plus tool to Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Uruguay and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

Are there other tools relying on SIMORE PLUS?

SIMORE Plus is currently a stand-alone, all-encompassing tool that takes charge of all the tasks related to the implementation, reporting, and follow-up of international human rights recommendations for the countries listed above.

Can you give a concrete example of how it can be used to monitor national implementation of international human rights obligations?

SIMORE Plus allows to cluster and systematize the recommendations issued by UN human rights mechanisms to facilitate periodic reporting and implementation monitoring through the tool. The inter-institutional work around this tool comprises roundtables on themes, groups or specific SDGs with the designation of focal points (public officers) from each relevant ministries and institutions in charge of human rights monitoring and implementation who are responsible for updating SIMORE Plus. A recommendation can be linked to more than one ministry or institution, as well as to several themes, groups or SDGs to promote an intersectional approach to human rights issues. The upload of recommendations on SIMORE Plus follows an internal consultation process that links recommendations to a regularly updated implementation report, relevant public policies, indicators, yearly statistics, and other relevant information, as well as persistent implementation challenges.

As such, the Paraguayan government and its population can monitor in real time the implementation progress and apply indicators to measure impact. Furthermore, the follow-up at SIMORE Plus provides input to develop action plans. A concrete example of this process is the adoption of the 2015-2030 Institutional Action Plan of the National Secretariat for the Human Rights of Persons with Disabilities, based on the recommendations of the United Nations Human Rights Mechanisms.

Who are its main users?

SIMORE Plus in Paraguay grants public access to the recommendations and their follow-up without a username. Everyone can use the search engine and find the latest recommendations adopted by the United Nations and the Inter-American Court on Human Rights.

Each institution of the Paraguayan executive, legislative and judicial branches and all ministries and national institutions with a human rights mandate have a member (the focal points mentioned above) who represents their thematic portfolio within SIMORE Plus.

As mentioned above, the digital tool also has the possibility for civil society organizations to register and use SIMORE Plus to comment on the follow-up of the focal points (CSO Plus).

MORE ON THIS THEMATIC AREA

GHRP at UN in New York News

'Human Rights Data Revolution' Academy Briefing in the International Spotlight

17 July 2024

Our recent Academy Briefing, 'The Human Rights Data Revolution', has garnered significant international recognition in recent months with presentations in Indonesia, Paraguay and at the United Nations in New York.

Read more

GHRP Bologna Meeting News

Expert Roundtable Discusses Role of Local and Regional Governments in data collection for National Mechanisms

29 April 2024

The Geneva Human Rights Platform co-hosted an expert roundtable on 'Data Planning and Collection by National Mechanisms for Implementation, Reporting, and Follow-up', in Bologna, Italy.

Read more

Garment workersto receive food from their factory during lunch time. This food is freely provided by their factory in order to ensure that workers eat healthy and hygienic food. Training

Business and Human Rights

2-6 September 2024

This training course will examine how the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights have been utilized to advance the concept of business respect for human rights throughout the UN system, the impact of the Guiding Principles on other international organizations, as well as the impact of standards and guidance developed by these different bodies.

Read more

Open dump Training

Protecting Human Rights and the Environment

2-20 September 2024

Participants in this training course, made of two modules, will examine the major international and regional instruments for the promotion of human rights and the environment, familiarizing themselves with the respective implementation and enforcement mechanisms.

Read more

Online folders Project

Digital Human Rights Tracking Tools and Databases

Started in March 2023

This initiative wishes to contribute to better and more coordinated implementation, reporting and follow-up of international human rights recommendations through a global study on digital human rights tracking tools and databases.

Read more

A destroyed camp for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Khor Abeche, South Darfur, Project

Understanding the Relationship between Conflict, Security and the Human Right to a Clean, Healthy and Sustainable Environment

Started in May 2023

This project will develop guidance to inform security, human rights and environmental debates on the linkages between environmental rights and conflict, and how their better management can serve as a tool in conflict prevention, resilience and early warning.

Read more

Cover of the 2023 Geneva Academy Annual Report Publication

Annual Report 2023

published on July 2024

Read more