"Shadow reports" by nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and national human rights institutions (NHRIs) are commonplace within the international human rights treaty monitoring process. They became so for a simple reason: shadow reports improve the reporting process by providing useful information. This article contends that shadow reports from cities would do the same. Using the example of reports sent by the City of Berkeley, California, this article advocates for institutionalizing city shadow reporting because such reports can provide frontline information and help socialize cities into human rights compliance, even (and perhaps especially) when at odds with their national government.

非政府组织 (NGO) 和国家人权机构 (NHRI) 的“影子报告”在国际人权条约监测过程中司空见惯。它们之所以如此，原因很简单：影子报告通过提供有用的信息来改进报告过程。这篇文章认为，来自城市的影子报告也会这样做。以加利福尼亚州伯克利市发送的报告为例，本文主张将城市影子报告制度化，因为此类报告可以提供一线信息并帮助城市社会化以遵守人权，即使（也许尤其是）在与他们的国家不一致时政府。