2. MONITORING AND DOCUMENTING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: SOME BASIC CONCEPTS CONTENTS OF THIS CHAPTER  INTRODUCTION  TWO APPROACHES TO MONITORING  HOW HUMAN RIGHTS ARE VIOLATED Violations by the State - Acts of commission and omission Non-Government Entities - Acts of commission  USING THE "EVENTS" METHODOLOGY TO MONITOR VIOLATIONS  WHAT HAPPENED AND WHO DID WHAT TO WHOM? Events and Acts Victims and Perpetrators  ORGANISING THE EVENT INFORMATION Constructing the Event Chain of Events Distinguishing Acts from Each Other Involvement  WHAT ACTIONS WERE TAKEN IN RESPONSE AND WHO DID WHAT? Information and Intervention Source and Intervening Party  ADDITIONAL INFORMATION  EXAMPLES  THE VARIOUS "EVENTS" ELEMENTS IN DATABASE TERMS Entity and Link  NAMING THE ENTITIES AND CATEGORISING THE TYPES OF LINKS Naming the Entities 2.1 INTRODUCTION Definition Fact-finding is the process of identifying the violations in one event, and establishing the facts relevant to these violations. Fact-finding and investigation are terms that are used interchangeably. Definition Documentation is the process of systematically recording the results of an investigation or fact-finding in relation to an event or number of events. Fact-finding and documentation are organically related and should not be viewed as separate processes. Definition Monitoring is closely observing a given situation in society over a long period of time to see whether human rights standards are met. To carry out monitoring, investigation and documentation of a large and/or representative number of events are conducted. 4