OHCHR | Human Rights Indicators

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Human Rights Indicators

Tools for measuring progress

Human rights indicators are essential in the implementation of human rights standards and commitments, to support policy formulation, impact assessment and transparency.

OHCHR has developed a framework of indicators to respond to a longstanding demand to develop and deploy appropriate statistical indicators in furthering the cause of human rights.

One of the recommendations of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna was the use and analysis of indicators to help measure progress in human rights.

Several years of research and consultation went into the development of this tool. It was guided by the principles of universality, impartiality, objectivity and cooperation to strengthen the capacity of Member States in meeting their human rights obligations.

This framework is already being applied by national governments, national human rights institutions and non-governmental organisations worldwide.

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Key Publications

A Human Rights Based Approach to Data - Leaving No One Behind in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development

Guidance Note to Data Collection and Disaggregation

Providing elements of a common understanding on a Human Rights-Based Approach to Data (HRBAD), with a focus on issues of data collection and disaggregation to leave no-one behind in the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

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Human Rights Indicators: A Guide to Measurement and Implementation

A guide to developing quantitative and qualitative indicators to measure progress in the implementation of international human rights norms and principles.

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Human Rights Indicators Tables – Updated with SDG Indicators

Updated illustrative tables of human rights indicators taking into account the global indicator framework adopted by the United Nations General Assembly to measure the implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (A/RES/71/313).

Now Available in PDF: (Arabic English French Russian Spanish)

How Covid-19 is changing the world: a statistical perspective

How Covid-19 is changing the world: a statistical perspective-VolII

Throughout the current crisis, the international statistics community has continued to work together, in partnership with national statistical offices and systems around the world to ensure that the best quality data and statistics are available to support decision making during and after the crisis. This report - compiled jointly by 36 international organizations, under the aegis of the Committee for the Coordination of Statistical Activities (CCSA) - gives a small flavour of that cooperation.

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Praia Handbook on Governance Statistics

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide a foundation for the development of international statistical guidance and standards in all areas of governance statistics. It conceptualizes and systematizes the various dimensions of governance statistics underpinned by human rights standards. It is intended as a guide for those wishing to understand, produce and analyse governance and human rights statistics, and is primarily targeted towards national statistical offices.

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Governance Statistics in the COVID-19 Era

This Guidance Note was developed to assist NSOs and other governance data producers in meeting the governance information needs most likely to arise during the pandemic and its aftermath, while keeping in mind the operational and financial constraints placed on traditional field-based operations. It provides a foundation for developing international statistical Guidance and standards for eight dimensions of governance, anchored in the international human rights normative framework: namely non-discrimination and equality, participation, openness, access to and quality of justice, responsiveness, absence of corruption, trust, and safety and security. This Guidance Note builds on the detailed recommendations made in the first-ever global, member-state led Handbook on Governance Statistics published in early 2020 by the Praia Group on Governance Statistics.

Feature Stories

Measuring human rights to support sustainable development

Traditional data collection has seldom been able to support inequality reduction policies to benefit the most vulnerable. A human rights-based approach to data can help States attain the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda.

Human Rights-Based Approach to Data

OHCHR has developed the Human Rights-Based Approach to Data (HRBAD), demonstrating how data can be produced following international human rights and statistical standards while putting people at the center. It operationalizes the "leave no-one behind" principle and draws attention to human rights and their practical and normative contributions to ensuring meaningful participation, especially by vulnerable and at-risk groups, in all stages of the data life cycle. The approach also improves visibility around groups left behind and reinforces equality and non-discrimination. In addition, the HRBAD highlights the nexus between human rights standards and data-specific ethical and professional principles, particularly the Fundamental Principles of Official Statistics. It espouses six key principles: participation, self-identification, data disaggregation, privacy, transparency, and accountability that national statistical systems need to operationalize.

OHCHR is strengthening institutional linkages and collaboration between National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) and National Statistical Offices (NSOs) to make human rights count for everyone, including the use of a model Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) as a tool for the formalization of collaborative working relationships. The MoU seeks to assist parties in sharing knowledge and expertise and collaborating on official data collection, dissemination and analysis. These relationships could be valuable in implementing and measuring progress within the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and translating the Merida Declaration adopted by NHRIs at the country level.

Video on the Human Rights-Based Approach to Data