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Measuring Human Rights

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2012

Kate Raworth
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Abstract

The language of human rights is increasingly being advocated as a framework for policy dialogue. To make this feasible, indicators must be developed that help to hold the state accountable for its policies, that help to guide and improve policy, and that are sensitive to local contexts without sacrificing the commitment to the universality of rights. Can it be done?

This article examines ongoing attempts to devise indicators and argues that they are not based in a sufficiently clear conceptual framework. It argues for greater intelligibility in devising indicators concerning what they should be assessing, how to reflect the universalism of rights across different contexts, and how to weigh the conflicts of interest that characterize the public policy decision-making process.

Type
Articles
Information
Ethics & International Affairs , Volume 15 , Issue 1 , March 2001 , pp. 111 - 131
Copyright
Copyright © Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs 2001

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References

1 United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, The Dignity Measure: Selected Human Rights Indicators (Geneva: United Nations, 1999Google Scholar).

2 United Nations Development Programme, Human Development Report 2000 (London: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 157Google Scholar.

3 Ibid., pp. 157–59Google Scholar.

4 Ibid., p. 96Google Scholar.

5 Kenneth, A. Bollen, “Political Rights and Political Liberties in Nations: An Evaluation of Human Rights Measures, 1950 to 1984,” Human Rights Quarterly 8 (Special Issue 1986), p. 577Google Scholar.

6 Ibid., p. 583Google Scholar.

7 UNDP, , Human Development Report 2000, p. 90Google Scholar.

8 The Danish Centre for Human Rights, Human Rights Indicators 2000: Country Data and Methodology (Copenhagen: The Danish Centre for Human Rights, 2000Google Scholar).

9 World University Service—International, “Report of the Workshop on Indicators to Monitor the Progressive Realisation of the Right to Education” (workshop organized by World University Service—International, Geneva, May 1999)Google Scholar.

10 This framework of respect, protect, and fulfill was first set out by Asbjorn Eide in the context of the right to food, but has become the common basis of state obligations as applied to all rights. Eide, Asbjorn, “The Human Right to Adequate Food and Freedom from Hunger,” in The Right to Food: In Theory and Practice (Rome: Food and Agricultural Organisation, 1998Google Scholar).

11 See UNDP, Human Development Report 2000, chap. 5, pp. 89–111Google Scholar.

12 Thomas Hammarberg, “Searching for the Truth: The Need to Monitor Human Rights with Relevant and Reliable Means” (paper presented at the Statistics, Development, and Human Rights Conference of the International Association for Official Statistics, Montreux, Switzerland, September 4–8, 2000)Google Scholar.

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14 Center for Economic and Social Rights, From Needs to Rights: Realizing the Right to Health in Ecuador (Quito: Genesis Ediciones, 1999Google Scholar).

15 This example is drawn from Christian Barry, “The Challenges of Conceiving and Measuring Human Rights” (paper presented at UNDP Global Forum, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, October 10–11, 2000); available athttp://www.undp.org/hdro/rioforum/rioagenda.htmlGoogle Scholar.

16 Bosambrio, Carlos, “Crime: A Latin American Challenge for Human Rights,” Human Rights Dialogue (Winter 2000Google Scholar); available at http://www.carnegiecouncil.org/hrdwinter2000.html.