Shadow Reports, also known as Alternative Reports, "shadow" a government’s official reports concerning its implementation of international human rights treaties. Offering behavioral baselines, they serve to document a government’s progress in the performance of human rights.

Following the ratification of an international human rights treaty, the government in question is required by a provision of the treaty to submit regular reports to the treaty monitoring body’s human rights committee. These periodic reports are supposed to update the Committee on how the provisions of the treaty it monitors are being implemented.

Before reviewing these reports and in order not to rely solely on the government’s version, the human rights committee may invite civil society groups, also known as "non-governmental organizations" (NGOs), to supplement it with alternative information that pertains to the periodic report under review. These are the reports that "shadow" a Government’s version. Ideally they

• Document the progress of a government’s accountability to the provisions of the treaty that it ratified,
• Enhance the participation of civil society groups in voicing their human rights concerns and criticisms at the international level, and
• Provide experts in treaty-monitoring bodies with an alternative assessment underlining any discrepancies in the government report, documenting government compliance or lack of it to the provisions of the treaty, and advancing recommendations for improving the protection of human rights in a particular country.