Indicators for Implementing and Monitoring Human Rights

Rajeev Malhotra
Professor and Executive Director
School of Government and Public Policy
O.P. Jindal Global University, Delhi NCR, India

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 What framework could be used to identify human
rights indicators?
 Why use indicators and why human rights
indicators?
 How do you identify indicators and collect and
compile the information on those indicators?
 What are the important issues in setting up a
country level human rights monitoring system?
Indicators for Human Rights Implementation and Monitoring

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Importance of Indicators & Statistics
What does an indicator /statistic do to information:
 Concrete
 Monitoring
 Tangible
 Communication
 Recording
pins down the content
well defined, more easily understood
becomes more effective, minimising errors
facilitates follow-up, appropriate policy response
facilitates recording and building of memory
Using indicators, as goals & benchmarks, helps in the design,
implementation, monitoring & evaluation of public interventions.

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Importance of Qualitative and Quantitative Analysis

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Human Rights Indicator
 that addresses and reflects the human rights
concerns and principles; and
 that can be related to human rights norms and
standards;
 that are used to assess and monitor promotion
and protection of human rights.
Quantitative (& Qualitative) Information

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Approach to Identify Human Rights Indicators
 Requires assessing political commitment to accept
normative standards for public action, efforts made (by
duty bearer) as a part of that required action and
results of those efforts in realising human rights;
 Recognition that human rights are indivisible,
interdependent, inter-related & need to be co-realised,
requires a common approach for CPR and ESCR
implementation and measurement;
 Ad infinitum focus, on the process to protect
and promote human rights- CPRs and ESCRs-
along with the corresponding outcomes; and
 Based on the use of credible data acceptable to
stakeholders in the country.

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 A well defined methodology;
 Need for an adequate conceptual basis;
 Using contextually relevant indicators at
country and local level; and
Challenges in Identifying Indicators
 Recognising specific monitoring requirements of
national and international mechanisms and
selecting appropriate indicators in that context.

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Framework for Human Rights Indicators

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Indicators for Human Rights Principles
Accountability
Non-discrimination
and Equality
Participation
Effective Remedy
General Proxy Indicators
Defining indicators for
this procedural right in
terms of substantive rights
Disaggregated data

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Ukraine’s NSHR Human Rights Standards & Attributes
 Keeping in mind national and international human
rights standards, and their normative elaborations,
what aspects /attributes of the right or rights are
relevant for monitoring the prioritised issue(s)?
 To begin with, what aspects of NSHR prioritised
human rights issue would you like to focus on for
implementation and monitoring?
 What are the human rights or human rights issues
prioritised in NSHR Plan of Action and if they need to
be addressed sequentially over the plan period?

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From Standards to Indicators
 What kind of indicators will be relevant to monitor
legal and institutional (executive) role / context for
implementation of NSHR prioritised issue in Ukraine?
 What kind of indicators will be relevant to monitor
steps being taken by govt. and CSOs in advancing
the implementation of obligations emanating from
the human rights standards applicable to the issue?
 As a summary measure, what kind of indicators will
be required to monitor the results of those efforts, to
capture the realisation of relevant human rights?

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Ukraine’s NSHRs: Mapping the Strategic Areas with OHCHR Guide
 Ensuring the Right to life;
 Combating torture & cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment;
 Ensuring the right to freedom and personal inviolability;
 Ensuring the right to a fair trial;
 Ensuring the freedom of thought &speech, of expression,
access to information and free development of personality;
 Ensuring freedom of peaceful assembly & association;
 Ensuring right to participate in public admin. & vote;
 Preventing and combating discrimination;
 Ensuring equal rights for women and men;
 Combating gender-based violence, human trafficking
and slavery;
 Combating domestic violence:

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Ukraine’s NSHRs: Mapping the Strategic Areas with OHCHR Guide
 Ensuring rights of national minorities & indigenous peoples;
 Ensuring the right to work and social security;
 Ensuring the right to health care;
 Creating conditions for the freedom of entrepreneurship;
 Ensuring the right to education;
 Ensuring the right to privacy;
 Ensuring the rights of the child;
 Ensuring the rights of refugees, persons in need of
additional protection, foreigners & stateless persons;
 Rights of participants of ant-terrorist operations
 Protection of rights of internally displaced persons;
 Area specific issue & rights- occupied territories,
settlement of Donetsk & Luhansk, and hostages rights

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Translating the narrative on applicable legal standards
of the right(s) into a limited characteristic attributes to
facilitate identification of appropriate indicators:
Right to Health:
 Maternal & reproductive health;
 Child mortality & health care;
 Public health & hygiene;
 Prevention & disease control;
 Accessibility to health services & essential medicines
I. Identifying Human Rights Attributes of the Issue
Right to Liberty & Security of Person:
 Arrests & detention based on criminal charges;
 Administrative deprivation of liberty;
 Effective review by court;
 Security from crime & abuse by law enforcement
officials

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Structural /Commitment Indicators
Reflect the ratification / adoption of legal instruments and
existence of basic institutional mechanisms deemed necessary for
facilitating realisation of the concerned human right.
Process / Effort Indicators
Relate the State policy instruments with milestones (which
cumulate into outcomes that can be more directly related to
realisation of right), hence capture accountability as well as the
notion of progressive realisation
Outcome /Results Indicators
Capture attainments, individual and collective, that reflect status
of realisation of the human rights in a given context
Categories of Human Rights Indicators

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 Socio-economic & other administrative statistics;
Categories of Data Generating Methods for Indicators
 Events-based data on human rights violation;
 Household perception and opinion surveys; and
 Data based on expert judgements.

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• Describes acts, identifies victims & perpetrators
Events-based Data on Human Rights Violation
Information related to events characterised by
occurrence of human rights violation:
• Mainly focused on Civil and Political rights
• HURIDOCS, CSOs, NHRIs (Chile) Truth Commissions.
+ HR dimensions of indicators is concrete
- Bias towards under-estimates, comparability
problems, limitations in use for ESCRs

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• Censes, household surveys, civil registration system
and administrative data;
Socio-economic & Other Administrative Statistics
Information mainly related to standard of living and
other facets of living, collected through
administrative records and statistical surveys:
• Focused on ESCRs but covers large aspects of Civil
and Political rights;
• NSA, CSO (Social Watch) IGOs;
- HR dimensions of indicators- not always obvious
+ Objective standardised methodology for data
collection- high level of reliability and validity
+ Data source for HR monitoring not fully explored

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• Information is predominantly qualitative and
subjective;
Household Perception and Opinion Surveys
Information based on sample of individuals on their
personal views:
• Covers ESCRs and Civil and Political rights;
• CSO (Gallup, Afrobarometer);
- Representativeness and comparability limitations
and therefore useful more for policy direction &
not so much for policy design & implementation.
+ ‘Voice of the people’ dimension in assessments;
- Emphasis on subjective undermines reliability
and validity of indicators;

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• Use of diverse sources of information;
Data Based on Expert Judgements
Information based on qualitative assessments of
limited number of ‘informed experts’:
• Frequently used for cross-national comparisons;
• CSO (Freedom House);
- Representativeness & comparability limitations
and therefore useful more for policy direction &
not so much for policy design & implementation.
+ Quick & effective for getting first assessments;
- Emphasis on subjective undermines reliability
&validity of indicators;

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Criteria for Indicator Selection
 Amenability to disaggregation by age, sex and
region, as required, and more generally on the
applicable prohibited grounds of
discrimination; and
 Few in numbers and “SMART” in
scope;
 Instrumentally driven i.e. a policy action
should directly drive change in magnitude
of indicator;
 Ideally objective in nature and based on
objective data generating methods (that
follow international statistical standards), to
enable inter-temporal and spatial
comparability;
 Administratively feasible to collect information
on indicators, ideally annually for improved
comparability, temporal & spatial/ cross
sectional.

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Rights-based Monitoring
Is rights-based monitoring different from monitoring as
commonly understood?
 Focus on specific data that embodies and
reflects realisation of human rights, particularly
for the most vulnerable and marginalised
population groups
Rights-based monitoring requires:
 Certain institutional arrangement for data
collection

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Establishing a Rights-based Monitoring System
 Identification of monitoring stakeholders and
assigning nodal functions;
 Facilitation of a country owned monitoring
mechanism - data generation & interpretation;
 Identification of major vulnerable groups – in a
transparent and accountable manner;
 Capacity building for data collection and
disaggregation; and
 Reporting periodicity, publication, access to
information /dissemination and follow-up.

Indicators for Implementing and Monitoring Human Rights

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