Human Rights Indicators

188 Pages·2012·9.4 MB·English

HUMAN RIGHTS
INDICATORS
A Guide to Measurement
and Implementation
We should never forget that behind every piece of statistical
data are human beings who were born free and equal in
dignity and rights. We must strive to make their human rights
stories, especially those of the powerless, visible through
robust indicators and to use them in constantly improving our
human rights policies and implementation systems to bring
H
positive change to people’s lives. U
M
Navi Pillay A
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights N

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I
G
H
T
S
In step with United Nations efforts to further promote I
N
universal standards and better protect people against human D
rights violations, this publication of the Office of the United IC
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights provides A
T
practical guidance for the development of quantitative O
and qualitative indicators to strengthen the measurement R
S
and implementation of human rights, including the right

to development. It contains a detailed description of the

conceptual and methodological framework for human rights A
G
indicators recommended by international and national u
human rights mechanisms and used by a growing number ide
of governmental and non-governmental actors. Concrete to
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examples of indicators identified for a number of human e
a
rights—all stemming from the Universal Declaration of su
Human Rights—and other practical tools and illustrations are rem
provided to support processes and stakeholders that aim to en
improve the realization of human rights on the ground. This t a
n
Guide will be of interest to human rights advocates as well d Im
as policymakers, development practitioners, statisticians and p
le
other key actors who contribute to making human rights a m
e
reality for all. n
ta
tio
n
Note
The designations employed and the presentation of the
material in this publication do not imply the expression of
any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Secretariat of the
United Nations concerning the legal status of any country,
territory, city or area, or of its authorities, or concerning the
delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries.
Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of
capital letters combined with figures. Mention of such a
figure indicates a reference to a United Nations document.
HR/PUB/12/5
© 2012 United Nations
All worldwide rights reserved
HUMAN RIGHTS
INDICATORS
A Guide to Measurement
and Implementation
New York ANd GeNevA, 2012
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights (OHCHR) is mandated to promote
and protect the enjoyment and full realization, by
all people, of all rights established in the Charter
of the United Nations and in international human
rights laws and treaties. It is guided in its work by
the mandate provided by the General Assembly
in resolution 48/141, the Charter of the United
Nations, the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights and subsequent human rights instruments, the
Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action of
the 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and
the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document.
The mandate includes preventing human rights
violations, securing respect for all human rights,
promoting international cooperation to protect
human rights, coordinating related activities
throughout the United Nations, and strengthening
and streamlining United Nations human rights work.
In addition to its mandated responsibilities, it leads
efforts to integrate a human rights approach within
all work carried out by the United Nations system.
The human rights journey from standard-setting accountability and embrace methods empowering
to effective implementation depends, in large people, especially the most vulnerable and the most
measure, on the availability of appropriate tools marginalized.
for policy formulation and evaluation. Indicators,
both quantitative and qualitative, are one such Policy management, human rights and statistical
essential tool. systems are closely interrelated and thus need to be
in tune with each other for promoting the well-being
While the importance of indicators for the realization of people. Devising a policy or statistical indicator is
of human rights is widely recognized, and even not a norm or value-neutral exercise. Yet, integrating
enshrined in human rights treaties, as in article 31 human rights in these processes is not only a
of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with normative imperative, it also makes good practical
Disabilities, their use has not yet become systematic. sense. Failing to do so can have real consequences.
The present Guide will help in filling this gap.
I believe that this Guide will represent an important
In recent years, the critical need for such tools has reference and resource from this perspective. There
become increasingly evident. On the eve of the Arab is a long way to go in improving our capacities for
Spring, there were still reports about the remarkable human rights implementation. There are numerous
economic and social progress and general challenges in the collection and dissemination of
improvements in governance and the rule of law that information on human rights. What to monitor,
some countries in the region were achieving. At the how to collect information and interpret it from a
same time, United Nations human rights mechanisms human rights perspective, and the inherent danger
and voices from civil society were painting a of misusing data, are but some of the concerns
different picture, and reporting on exclusion, the addressed in this publication. The Guide also
marginalization of communities, discrimination, reminds us of the limitations that are intrinsic to any
absence of participation, censorship, political indicator. In particular, it cannot and should not be
repression or lack of an independent judiciary and seen as a substitute for more in-depth, qualitative
denial of basic economic and social rights. and judicial assessments which will continue to be
the cornerstones of human rights monitoring. Instead,
Popular uprisings and demonstrations in other the indicators and methods described in this Guide
parts of the world, including in relatively well-off are primarily meant to inform more comprehensive
countries, remind us of the necessity to place the assessments and are neither designed nor suitable
human being at the centre of our development for ranking the human rights performance of States.
policy and to adjust our analytical lens accordingly. The primary objective here is to highlight the human
They compel us to review existing analytical, rights norms and principles, spell out the essential
methodological and legal frameworks to ensure attributes of the rights enshrined in international
that they integrate real attention to freedom from instruments and translate this narrative into
fear and want, and to discrimination; assess the contextually relevant indicators and benchmarks
extent of public participation in development and for implementing and measuring human rights at
in the fair distribution of its benefits; strengthen country level.
HuMAN rIGHts INdIcAtors III
I commend the women and men, the countries, I hope this Guide will be widely disseminated, within
State agencies, regional and national human and beyond traditional human rights forums, and
rights institutions, statistical offices, civil society invite all users and other stakeholders to share their
organizations and United Nations entities that knowledge and experiences and send feedback to
were engaged in and have contributed to making my Office.
this pioneering work on human rights indicators
a reality. As illustrated by several national Most importantly, we should never forget that
and regional initiatives, this work, which is still behind every piece of statistical data are human
in progress and in connection with which my beings who were born free and equal in dignity
Office continues to receive a growing number of and rights. We must strive to make their human
requests for support and assistance, provides useful rights stories, especially those of the powerless,
tools in strengthening national capacity for human visible through robust indicators and to use them in
rights implementation. constantly improving our human rights policies and
implementation systems to bring positive change to
I trust that the continued engagement, dialogue and people’s lives.
cooperation among all stakeholders, including the
human rights and development communities, will
truly help foster human rights-based and people-
centred development at country level. Indicators are
in this sense a potential bridge between the human
rights and the development policy discourses.
Navi Pillay
United Nations High Commissioner
for Human Rights
IV HuMAN rIGHts INdIcAtors
AckNowledgemeNts
The preparation of this publication would not have been possible without the
contributions and support of a large number of individuals and organizations.
It benefited from the guidance of the human rights treaty bodies and a series
of consultations and workshops organized by OHCHR between 2005 and
2012 in different countries and regions. OHCHR is particularly grateful to
Rajeev Malhotra for initiating and conceptualizing the work on indicators
for human rights at OHCHR and for his leading role in the development of
the Guide with Nicolas Fasel and Grace Sanico Steffan. OHCHR wishes
to thank Martin Scheinin for his substantive leadership and the following
other members (or former members) of human rights treaty bodies, special
rapporteurs and experts for their invaluable guidance and support: Francisco
Alba, Jana Asher, José Francisco Calí Tzay, Audrey R. Chapman, Eitan Felner,
Maria Virginia Bras Gomes, Paul Hunt, Moushira Khattab, Miloon Kothari,
Lothar Krappmann, Todd Landman, Manfred Nowak, Michael O’Flaherty,
Mark Orkin, Victoria Popescu, Eibe Riedel, Hans-Otto Sano, the late
Hanna Beate Schoepp-Schilling, Mehmet Sevim and Christopher Stone.
OHCHR also wishes to thank the United Nations Economic Commission
for Europe (Statistical Division), the United Nations Human Settlements
Programme, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the United Nations Office
on Drugs and Crime, the International Labour Organization, the Food
and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations
Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, the World Health
Organization, the World Bank, the European Union Agency for Fundamental
Rights and the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development
(PARIS21/Metagora) for the essential expertise they provided to this work.
HuMAN rIGHts INdIcAtors V

Foreword .....................................................................................................................................................III
Acknowledgements .....................................................................................................................................V
Abbreviations and acronyms ......................................................................................................................X
IntroductIon ...................................................................................................................................1
I. HuMAn rIGHtS And IndIcAtorS: rAtIonALE And SoME concErnS..........9
A. What are human rights? ....................................................................................................................10
B. United Nations human rights mechanisms ........................................................................................15
c. Human rights indicators - notion and rationale ...............................................................................16
d. Some concerns and misconceptions .................................................................................................21
e. Indicators in the international legal framework ...............................................................................24
II. concEPtuALIZInG IndIcAtorS For HuMAn rIGHtS ............................................27
A. Issues to address in human rights measurement ..............................................................................28
B. The conceptual framework ................................................................................................................30
c. Some considerations in conceptualizing the indicators..................................................................42
d. Importance of context-specific indicators.........................................................................................44
III. MEtHodoLoGIcAL APProAcHES to HuMAn rIGHtS IndIcAtorS................45
A. Ethical, statistical and human rights considerations in indicator selection ....................................46
B. Sources and data-generating mechanisms ......................................................................................51
c. Disaggregation of human rights indicators ......................................................................................68

IV. ILLuStrAtInG tHE FrAMEWorK: IndIcAtorS For SoME rIGHtS ..................71
A. Considerations in preparing tables of indicators ............................................................................72
B. Identifying the attributes .....................................................................................................................76
c. Selecting the indicators .....................................................................................................................77
d. Putting indicators into context and building country ownership ....................................................85
V. FrAMEWorK In PrActIcE: IMPLEMEntInG And MonItorInG rIGHtS .......103
A. Using indicators for human rights ...................................................................................................104
B. Interpreting statistical information from a human rights perspective ............................................126
c. Setting up human rights monitoring systems ..................................................................................133
AnnEx I ..............................................................................................................................................141
Metadata sheets on selected indicators
AnnEx II .............................................................................................................................................167
Databases of United Nations and other international organizations on human rights issues
and population groups
GLoSSAry oF StAtIStIcAL tErMS .......................................................................................171
HuMAN rIGHts INdIcAtors VII
list of Boxes
1. Use of statistical indicators by courts ........................................................................................................3
2. Scope of State human rights obligations ...............................................................................................12
3. Indicators used by human rights monitoring mechanisms ....................................................................26
4. Salient features of the conceptual framework .......................................................................................33
5. Structural indicators .................................................................................................................................34
6. Process indicators ....................................................................................................................................36
7. Outcome indicators .................................................................................................................................38
8. Validation of the conceptual framework................................................................................................43
9. Misuse of data - the dark side of numbers ............................................................................................46
10. National statistical systems and the right to information ......................................................................47
11. Human rights of statisticians ....................................................................................................................49
12. RIGHTS criteria for indicator selection ..................................................................................................50
13. Recording complaints and assessing human rights ..............................................................................53
14. Statistical tools for recording human rights abuse - Sri Lanka METAGORA project .........................55
15. Importance of administrative data in human rights assessments .........................................................59
16. Statistical surveys: a vital source of data for human rights ...................................................................60
17. Using survey indicators to claim rights - civil society initiative of Seven Towers residents,
north Belfast, United Kingdom .................................................................................................................61
18. Survey of indigenous peoples’ rights in the Philippines .......................................................................62
19. Survey of abuse and ill-treatment by police forces in Mexico City .....................................................63
20. Characteristics of sources of socioeconomic and administrative statistics ..........................................64
21. Are statistical surveys better than expert judgements? DIAL household survey on corruption .........66
22. Statistics on gender and human rights of women .................................................................................75
23. Measuring discrimination ........................................................................................................................82
24. Measuring discrimination in access to work .........................................................................................83
25. Using indicators to improve reporting to treaty bodies - Guatemala ................................................105
26. Recommendations of United Nations human rights mechanisms - a key reference in the process
of identifying relevant structural, process and outcome indicators ...................................................106
27. IBSA as a tool for human rights monitoring ........................................................................................109
28. Using indicators for human rights and national planning - Ecuador ..................................................113
29. Development of a human rights measurement framework in the United Kingdom ...........................115
30. Indicators and national human rights action plan - Nepal .................................................................117
31. Using indicators for human rights - Mexico ..........................................................................................118
32. Indicators for monitoring and mainstreaming human rights - Kenya ..................................................119
33. Development as a legal entitlement - India .........................................................................................120
34. Checking the budget process from a human rights perspective ........................................................123
35. Role of civil society in human rights budgeting and development planning ....................................124
36. Monitoring the human rights content of budgets - some examples ...................................................126
VIII HuMAN rIGHts INdIcAtors