This Guide, issued by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), focuses on how civil society can follow up on recommendations of United Nations (UN) human rights mechanisms and mandates or bodies. Readers who are not already familiar with the main features of these mechanisms are invited to refer to OHCHR’s Handbook for civil society – Working with the United Nations human rights programmeand its Practical Guides for civil society. 

Sections 1 – 3 of this Guide explain ‘follow-up’ and ‘implementation’, while section 4 describes methods and activities that civil society actors (CSAs) can use. Section 5 reviews existing follow-up procedures andpractices of UN human rights mechanisms and how CSAs can participate. The Guide also refers to tools to facilitate civil society follow-up activities.These are listed in section 6.