ToolBOX
Human Rights Indicators - Country and Regional Database
| Purpose |
The Human Rights Indicators. Country and Regional Data Base has been developed primarily as a data base for use at the Danish Centre for Human Rights. The data base intends to contribute to strategy development and country assessment in the project work at DCHR. The data and countries selected for this data base have therefore been chosen not with a view to global assessments of human rights, but rather to feasibility assessments within regions and countries where the Centre has projects or where project work is considered.
The purpose is to provide project managers, partners as well as external stakeholders in Denmark and in the countries where we work, with tools of assessments which allow international comparison in terms of processes of democratisation, compliance with fundamental human rights, and a broader range of related subjects such a development problems, crime levels, and intra-regional movements of people.
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| Types of data used |
Reviiw of legal documents, socio-ecoomic data, secondary data sources |
| Methodology |
The Human Rights Indicators focus on four dimensions of conduct:
“Formal Commitment” measures acceptance of human rights instruments including regional human rights conventions and incorporation of human rights in national constitutions. The formal commitment indicator has four components: Ratification of fundamental international and regional human rights instruments, ratification of other UN human rights conventions, reservations to international or regional conventions, and national Bills of Rights.
“Commitment to civil and political rights” measures whether governments violate eight human rights standards which can all be found in the key international and regional conventions. They are: 1. Extra-judicial killings /disappearances, 2. Torture and illtreatment, 3. Detention without trial, 4. Unfair trial, 5. Participation in the political process, 6. Freedom of association, 7. Freedom of expression, and 8. Discrimination except gender discrimination which is measured separately.
“Commitment to Economic Social and Cultural Rights” measures the degree to which governments fulfil their obligations on economic, social rights and cultural rights. It does
so in a very preliminary manner as human rights indicators of conduct for the ICESCR are not well established internationally. Two components have been included as regards this indicator, i.e., the proportion of government expenditure spent on health and education as a percentage of the gross domestic production, and the gross national income in combination with achievements of progress in the human development indicators health and education. Concerning indicators of gender discrimination, it should be noted that gender discrimination prevails in any country examined. Indicators in this field must therefore measure degrees of discrimination and not whether it occurs or not. However, internationally accepted indicators in this field are poorly developed. The two components included in this index intend to flag the issue rather than define it precisely. This indicator measures government employment of women at all levels together with achievements of progress in the UNDP defined Gender Development Indicators. |
| Area of Governance |
Human Rights
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| Pro-poor /gender sensitive aspects |
The framework is very pro-poor and gender-senstive. |
| Example indicators |
The score on the indicator 'formal commitment' is based on four groups of select indicators:
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| Where to find this tool | |
| Actionability |
The indicators are very actionable and detail chortcomings in formal as well as actual behaviour of governments. |
| Complementarity |
The indicators are complementary and focus attention on government formal and actual behaviour in relation to human rights. |