Indicators for Human Rights Compliance Assessment

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Indicators for Human Rights Compliance Assessment

• HRIA Conference, NL, 23-24 November 2006
• Nicolas Fasel, UN-OHCHR

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Outline work on compliance indicators at OHCHR

• Context and background
• Rationale for indicators
• Main elements of approach what is to be assessed
  and how?
• Brief illustration of approach
• Ongoing and future work

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Context background

• OHCHR requested by treaty bodies to provide
  assistance on statistical information for
  monitoring compliance with international human
  rights instruments
• Work guided by experts from treaty bodies,
  special rapporteurs of Human Rights Council, UN
  agencies as well as academics and NGOs
• Fair consensus among experts on the main
  conceptual and methodological elements of the
  approach
• Report (HRI/MC/2006/7) outlining the approach
  welcomed by the Inter-Committee Meeting of the
  treaty bodies in June 2006. Request for further
  work

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Rationale for indicators in compliance assessments

• Support qualitative and judicial or
  quasi-judicial human rights assessment
• Facilitate implementation of human rights
  normative framework
• Measure progress / help setting priorities
• Strengthen transparency and accountability
• Help rationalising treaty body reporting
  procedures

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Main elements of the approach

• In defining the framework, need
• To reflect the normative framework and content of
  HR in indicators
• A common approach to indicators for ESCR and CPR
• To balance universal and contextual relevance of
  indicators
• Focus on 2 data generating mechanisms

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What is to be assessed with compliance indicators?

• Linkage between States intent/ acceptance of HR
  standards with efforts undertaken to meet
  obligations, as well as consolidated outcome of
  efforts
• Focus on indicators reflecting HR concern of
  non-discrimination emphasis on disaggregation of
  data by prohibited grounds of discrimination

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What is to be assessed with compliance indicators?

• Structural indicators (Intent/acceptance)
• Reflect the adoption/ratification of legal
  instruments and existence of basic institutional
  mechanisms deemed necessary for facilitating
  realisation of the concerned human rights
• ratification of international human rights
  instruments type of accreditation of national
  human rights institution

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What is to be assessed with compliance indicators?

• Process indicators (efforts)
• Relate the State policy instruments (e.g. public
  programmes) with milestones (which cumulate into
  outcomes that can be more directly related to the
  realisation of HR), hence capture accountability
• prop. of one-year-old immunized against
  vaccine-preventable diseases / proportion of
  perpetrators of alleged violations brought to
  justice

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What is to be assessed with compliance indicators?

• Outcome indicators
• Capture attainments, individual and collective,
  that reflect the status of realisation of human
  rights in a given context
• infant/under-five mortality rate reported cases
  of extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary execution

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How indicators are generated?

• Data generating mechanisms
• Events-based data on human rights violations
• Socio-economic statistics
• Households perception/opinion surveys
• Data based on expert judgments
• (see Quantitative HR indicators a survey paper
  of Major initiatives, Turku, Åbo, Finland, March
  2005 http//www.abo.fi/instut/imr/research/semina
  rs/indicators/)

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Illustration right to life
Arbitrary deprivation of life Disappearance of individuals Health and nutrition Death penalty
Structural indicators International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to life, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to life Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to life, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to life Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to life, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to life Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to life, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to life Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...)
Process indicators Number of communications transmitted by SR on arbitrary execution and prop. of communications responded substantively by government () Number of communications transmitted by WG on disappearances and proportion clarified by the government () Prop. of population below minimum level of dietary energy consumption Prop. of population with sustainable access to an improved water source () Number of convicts and average time spent on death row ()
Outcome indicators Reported cases of arbitrary deprivation of life Incidence of homicides per 100,000 population () Reported cases of disappearances () Under five mortality rate () Executions under death penalty in the reporting period ()
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Illustration right to adequate food
Nutrition Food safety and consumer protection Food availability Food accessibility
Structural indicators International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to adequate food, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to adequate food Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to adequate food, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to adequate food Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to adequate food, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to adequate food Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...) International human rights instruments, relevant to the right to adequate food, ratified by the State Date of entry into force of domestic bill of rights (or other forms of superior law) including the right to adequate food Type of accreditation of NHRIs by the rules of procedures of the International Coordinating Committee of National Institutions (...)
Process indicators Prop. of vulnerable population (e.g. children, pregnant women, aged persons) covered under public nutrition supplement programmes () Prop. of food producing and distributing establishments inspected for food quality standards () Proportion of per capita availability sourced through domestic production, import and food aid Share of public budget spent on strengthening domestic agricultural production () Share of household consumption of major food items fur vulnerable population met through publicly assisted programmes ()
Outcome indicators Prop. of underweight children below age five Prop. adults with body mass index (BMI) lt 18.5 Number of recorded deaths/incidence of food poisoning related to adulterated food Per capita availability of major food items of local consumption Prop. of pop. below minimum level of dietary energy consumption ()
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Ongoing and future work

• Participative validation process, involving
  national and regional workshops, on identified
  indicators
• Identification of indicators for additional human
  rights
• Development of a database of indicators for human
  rights assessment
• Indicators metasheets and manual for users