| dc.description.abstract | In recent years, there has been a growing demand
from various stakeholders, including national and
international human rights activists and policymakers, for indicators for use in human rights assessments and in furthering the implementation and
realization of human rights. This publication attempts
to meet some of this demand by developing a reference resource with operational tools, including an
approach to identifying quantitative and qualitative
indicators, and the corresponding methodology, to
promote objective and comprehensive human rights
assessments.
On a general level, the idea of measuring human
rights is inspired by the thinking, once well summed
up by the eminent development thinker and practitioner J.K. Galbraith, that “if it is not counted, it
tends not to be noticed.” On another level and in a
different context, one could go further and suggest
“what gets measured gets done.”2
At the heart of
this thinking is the recognition that to manage a process of change directed at meeting certain socially
desirable objectives, there is a need to articulate
targets consistent with those objectives, mobilize
the required means, as well as identify policy instruments and mechanisms that translate those means
into desired outcomes. In other words, there is a
need for suitable information, for example in the
form of statistics, indicators or even indices, in order
to undertake a situational analysis, inform public
policy, monitor progress, and measure performance
and overall outcomes.
The use of indicators can help us make our communications more concrete and effective. Compiling
indicators helps to record information efficiently and
this, in turn, makes it easier to monitor and follow
up issues and outcomes. Well-articulated indicators
can improve public understanding of the constraints
and policy trade-offs, and help in creating broader
consensus on social priorities. More importantly,
when used properly, information and statistics can
be powerful tools for creating a culture of accountability and transparency in the pursuit of socially
valued progress.
In all these applications, it is necessary to configure
and adapt the indicators to the requirements of the
specific objectives that they are expected to serve so
as to exploit their inherent promise. To get the most
out of an indicator, it must be conceptually sound
and empirically validated, based on sound methodology for collecting and processing information, and
be relevant to the context where it is being used. | en_US |
