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Measuring human rights

Explore the purpose, levels, and methods of measuring human rights with a focus on principles, objects, and issues. Dive into international and domestic rights, de jure and de facto measurements, and standards-based approaches. Discover global trends and regional variations, aiding academic and policy research for enhanced political dialogue and action.

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Measuring human rights

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  1. Measuring human rights • Purpose of measurement • Levels of measurement • Categories and dimensions • Objects of measurement • Problems of measurement

  2. Purposes of measurement • Contextual description • Monitoring • Documentation • Classification • Types of regime • Types of governance • Types of rights violations • Mapping (time and space) • Global trends • Regional • Local • Secondary analysis • Academic research • Policy research • Political dialogue

  3. Levels of social scientific measurement Adapted from: Zeller and Carmines 1980; Munck and Verkuilen 2000; Adcock and Collier 2001; Ball and Spirer 2000

  4. Measuring Example

  5. Categories and dimensions of human rights • Categories • Civil rights • Political rights • Economic rights • Social rights • Cultural rights • Solidarity rights • Dimensions • Protect • Respect • Fulfil

  6. Objects of measurement • Principle (de jure) • International legal • National legal • Practice (de facto) • Events-based • Standards-based • Dichotomous categories • Polychotomous scales • Survey-based • Hybrid measures • Policy • Input • Process • Output • Outcome

  7. Principle (de jure) measurement • Code treaty participation (scale) • No signature (0) • Signature (1) • Ratification (2) • Ratification with reservations (weighting) • Code national constitutions (n or scale) • Articles on civil rights • Articles on political rights • Articles on economic rights • Articles on social rights • Articles on cultural rights

  8. International de jure human rights Landman (2005) Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

  9. International de jure rights: coding reservations • Rewarding the absence of reservations • Countries with no reservations with regard to said treaty that do not modify obligations, or non-substantial declarations (score = 4) • Countries whose reservations could have some but not major impact on their obligations (score = 3) • Countries whose reservations have noticeable effect on the obligations (score = 2) • Countries whose reservations can have significant and severe effects on treaty obligations (score = 1) • The ratification score • No signature (0) • Signature (1) • Ratification (2) • Weighting the ratification score • Weighted Ratification = [Ratification score (0,1,2) * Reservations score (1,2,3,4)] • High score = ratification with fewer substantial reservations • Low score = ratification with more substantial reservations

  10. International de jure rights: ICCPR with and without reservations Landman (2005) Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

  11. International de jure rights: ICCPR with reservations Landman (2005) Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

  12. Domestic de jure civil and political rights Source: van Maarseveen and Tang (1978)

  13. Domestic de jure economic and social rights Source: van Maarseveen and Tang (1978)

  14. Practice (de facto) measurement • Events-based • Standards-based • Survey-based • Hybrid

  15. De facto measurement: events-based methodology for human rights • Disaggregated events (‘who did what to whom’) • Act • Violation(s) • Perpetrator • Victim • Context • When • Where • Controlled vocabularies • Aggregated event counts • Multiple sources of information

  16. De facto measurement: events-based data model Source: http://shr.aaas.org/hrdag/idea/datamodel/index.html

  17. Measuring de facto rights: events-based example in Kosovo Estimated total refugee migration and killings over time, in Kosovo Source: Patrick Ball and Jana Asher

  18. Measuring de facto rights: events-based example in Peru, 1980-2000 Source: http://shr.aaas.org/hrdag/project-38.php

  19. Measuring de facto rights: events-based example for abuse against Human Rights Defenders, 1997-2000 Source: Landman (2006)’Holding the Line: Human Rights Defenders in the Age of Terror’, British Journal of Politics and International Relations, Vol. 8..

  20. De facto measurement: standards-based methodology • Ideal standards • Legal instruments • Conceptual definition • Democracy • Good governance • Human rights • Empirical information • Monitoring bodies • Human rights treaty bodies • NGOs (e.g. Amnesty International/Human Rights Watch) • Governments (e.g. US State Department) • Newspapers • Historical accounts/narratives • Coding • Dichotomous categories • ACLP • Doorenspleet • Polychotomous scales • Freedom House • Political Terror Scale • Torture Scale

  21. De facto measurement: standards-based scales of rights Landman (2005) Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

  22. De facto rights:Standards-based measures across space Landman (2005) Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Washington DC: Georgetown University Press

  23. De facto measurement: standards-based scales of political and civil rightsCingranelli and Richards (CIRI) data set www.humanrightsdata.com

  24. De facto measurement: standards-based scales of women’s and workers’ rightsCingranelli and Richards (CIRI) data set www.humanrightsdata.com

  25. De facto measurement: survey-based methodology • Sample of the population • ‘VIPs’ • Quota sample • Random • Standardised questions • Reponses • Open • Closed

  26. De facto measurement: survey-based measure of human rights World Values Survey (1994) question on support for the idea of human rights in 1990 across eight countries (1002  N  2095).

  27. De facto measurement: survey-based measure of human rights Physicians for Human Rights (2002); N = 991 IDPs in Sierra Leone

  28. Policy indicators • Input • Process • Performance • Output • Outcome • Perception

  29. Policy indicators: input • Provision of resources • Spending in education • Spending on health service • Spending on housing

  30. Policy indicators: process • Health • Number of patients seen per day • Waiting lists • Average journey time to hospital • Water • Time it takes to access clean water • Number of trips to water source needed per day

  31. Policy indicators: performance • Health • Time it takes to build new hospitals • Time it takes to deliver new beds • Time it takes to train and recruit new doctors • Water • Time it takes to provide a water connection • Time it takes to build a sewerage system

  32. Policy indicators: output • Health • Number of doctors per 100,000 • Number of hospital beds per 100,000 • Number of hospitals per geographical area • Water • Households with access to water within 200m of dwelling • Increase in quality of water

  33. Policy indicators: outcome • Health • Infant mortality rates • Longevity rates • New HIV/AIDs cases • Water • Level of water born diseases • Infant mortality rate

  34. Policy indicators: perception • Attitudinal data • Surveys • Feedback questionnaires • Can evaluate inputs, process, and outputs

  35. Problems of measurement • Validity • Reliability • Measurement bias • Lack of transparency • Variance truncation • Information bias • Aggregation problems

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