Amnesty International began country missions in 1962, and Human Rights Watch (HRW, then Helsinki Watch) in the early 1980s. HRW’s later approach to reporting has been widely imitated. Many other groups, such as the International Commission of Jurists, the Center for Economic and Social Rights, the International Crisis Group, the International Federation of Human Rights, and diverse specialist groups now generate hundreds of fact-finding reports every year. There is also much national level reporting by local NGOs, national human rights institutions, or sector-specific groups.

While the focus of the present chapter is primarily on fact-finding by intergovernmental organizations such as the UN, the principles discussed are broadly applicable to these other actors as well.