Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe - Volume 18, issue 2-3

Authors: Malaguerra, Carlo

Article Type: Introduction

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-301

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 125-129, 2001

Authors: Hammarberg, Thomas

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Human rights can never be fully measured in statistics; the qualitative aspects are too essential. The conclusion, however, is not that the human rights community should avoid using quantitative facts, but rather should learn how to use them. The challenge is to develop know-how on how to plan such fact-finding, to assemble the data, to organize them meaningfully and to present and disseminate them properly – in order that high standards of relevance and reliability are met. High-quality information is the principal tool for human rights monitoring; such data can show whether agreed standards are indeed respected and …implemented. This is of course why such reporting, in fact the very concept of “monitoring”, is controversial with some governments. However, promotion and monitoring cannot be separated. No serious donor – bilateral or multilateral – can provide assistance in the field of human rights without having the facts. The improvement of human rights should be seen as a constant process of monitoring, response to the facts, further monitoring, etc. Fact-finding is hostile only for those who want to suppress knowledge about the true situation. Transparency about the established facts is a threat only against those who are afraid of discussion. In this, the United Nations system is biased – in favour of openness. The procedures in the human rights mechanisms are based on transparency and the willingness of governments to provide information and allow scrutiny. Reports should be provided to the treaty monitoring committees and their questions answered; special rapporteurs should be free to come and inspect. It is hoped that governments at home would mirror this open attitude and establish local monitoring systems. National reforms are essential. The Committee on the Rights of the Child has asked each State party about data gathering relevant to the Convention, the institutional framework for such statistics and the methodologies used. The assumption has been that a well functioning statistical bureau could be essential for children's rights in that it could provide the decision-makers with feed back on measures needed to make reality of the child rights norms. It is not sufficient that freedom of information is established by law. There should be a culture of transparency and openness throughout the government administration. The national statistical agency should be given reasonable resources and be protected from political manipulation. At the same time the data collection should give priority to what is politically relevant, for instance focus on disadvantaged groups and equality gaps. Aid is important in this field. There is a huge gap between poor and rich countries in statistical resources, a difference that in turn hinders development. A gap is emerging between the new possibilities to process information electronically and the quality of the information to be fed in. The risk, of course, is that unreliable data be used for such processing, leading to distorted conclusions. In this picture the non-governmental organizations represent a hope. When they can benefit from international exchanges, when they are guided by a clear policy and detailed guidelines for monitoring, when they are well trained and when they can act without risking their safety and get support when in trouble – then, they can contribute to real change. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-302

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 131-140, 2001

Authors: Omar, Emad

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The paper discusses some developments in the human rights movement. In particular the mechanisms – including statistics – that promote and protect human rights and how some of the existing mechanisms have been redefined in order to introduce the new approach of human development. The final output of these mechanisms should be promoting and protecting human rights. Statistics has also become an important tool in that direction. There is an increased demand for statistics in the field of human rights, amongst others from human rights treaty-bodies, United Nations international conferences and the follow up mechanisms of these conferences. Furthermore the …human rights standards provided by international instruments have also given rise to a host of issues to be addressed by statistics. Some initiatives in the international community have been made to formulate a list of indicators that deal with issues related to human rights concerns. Thus, the human rights movement is becoming a main user of statistics; hence there is a need to build a stronger relationship between the human rights movement and the producers of statistics. The public opinion needs statistics that are easy to deal with in order to take appropriate action. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-303

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 141-153, 2001

Authors: Mokhiber, Craig G.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: While development and human rights have long been pursued in isolation from one another, the two concepts are now being reintegrated. For the UN, the question of indicators arose in the context of the Common Country Assessment (CCA) process, into which a rights-based approach to development was to be integrated. A rights-based approach is based on international human rights standards and directed to protecting human rights. Its elements include participation, accountability, non-discrimination, empowerment and linkage to the international standards. This creates demands for data that are not satisfied by traditional indicators. There is a need to base indicators on international …standards; to use a comprehensive human rights framework; to integrate the “rights element” into existing indicators; to measure the subjective, status, capacity, official response, and accessibility. Data must be disaggregated further, to test equality and non-discrimination, and must be read in context. Indicators themselves must be designed as tools of development, not weapons of critique. The next stage of rights-based development will require the compilation of an agreed list of core development indicators for civil and political rights, to measure the administration of justice, political participation, and personal security. It will also require indicators for the measurement of cultural rights in development, and integrating the "rights element" into socio-economic indicators. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-304

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 155-162, 2001

Authors: Ball, Patrick

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: Non-quantitative observers such as journalists, lawyers and physicians can observe human rights violations in casual assessments. However, in order to describe the “big picture”, accurately gathered data on the magnitude of violations, information on bias that might have affected the data collection and interpretation and the distribution of responsibilities among perpetrators are essential for human rights reporting. This paper discusses the work of the UN Commission for Historical Clarification in Guatemala as an example of how statistical methods were used to estimate the total number of people killed during the period 1960–1996 (magnitude); to evaluate whether in the aggregate …there had been greater focus on documenting violations committed by the guerrillas of the URNG (Unidad Revolucionaria Nacional Guatemalteca) or those committed by agents of the government of Guatemala (project bias); and then how we estimated the relative proportions of violations committed by the URNG and the government (responsibility). It concludes with a call for future research in the application of existing methods and the development of new theoretical approaches to continue increasing the statistical rigor in the analysis of human rights violations. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-305

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 163-173, 2001

Authors: Kucera, David

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: National level measures of fundamental rights at work are being developed by the International Institute for Labour Studies (of the International Labour Organization) as part of its Decent Work research programme. The measures address freedom of association and collective bargaining, child labour, forced labour, and discrimination in employment. The measures are constructed from information in published sources, both quantitative and textual, emphasizing de facto more than de jure considerations. The paper summarizes previous work on these issues (the construction of measures and their application in empirical analysis) and then the methods employed by the Institute in constructing measures to quantify …rights at work. The measures are being developed for two main reasons. First, in order to examine possible trade-offs and complementarities among rights at work and other employment objectives, these measures will be incorporated as explanatory variables into cross-sectional and panel data statistical models. Second, the measures will enable one to identify countries that have been able to achieve both greater rights at work as well other employment objectives, relative to these countries' level of economic development. Information on such success stories will be used to motivate country case studies aimed at identifying the causal mechanisms linking fundamental rights at work with other employment objectives as well as with economic development more generally. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-306

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 175-186, 2001

Authors: Ashagrie, Kebebew

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: ‘Child labour’ has always existed in one form or another. Some forms are exploitative and/or hazardous because they affect the health, spiritual, moral and social development of the children. Many of them are performed under conditions which violate the provisions of international conventions. Yet, the actual magnitude, nature, determinants, consequences and distributions of child labour have never been fully quantified. In recent years it is believed that the practice not only has become increasingly widespread but also more harmful due to several factors, including the economic crises in many countries and a growing pressure from trade globalisation. This development has …led to serious concerns as well as to controversy about child labour issues in individual countries and internationally. Consequently, the ILO launched in 1992 the International Programme for the Elimination of Child Labour (IPEC) whose main objectives included the quantification of all aspects of the phenomenon at country, regional and global levels. Its exhaustive investigation in more than 200 countries confirmed that the dearth of statistical data was due to the absence of appropriate methodologies for collecting the relevant information. Consequently, special survey approaches were designed and field-tested in several countries. Since then, the newly developed methodologies have been used in a growing number of countries for producing the required statistics at the national level. The results have enabled the ILO not only to make estimates on the extent of economically active children, but also to describe some of the nature, causes, consequences, and distributions of their activities (see Tables 2–4). Since some of the non-economic activities, particularly those which are illegal or immoral in nature, have particularly detrimental effects to the children engaged in them, intensive investigations into their prevalence are now underway in many countries worldwide (Table 1). Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-307

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 187-203, 2001

Authors: Goldmann, Gustave

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The term “minorities” carries with it a myriad of complex dimensions, each of which addresses a particular aspect of the majority-minority dichotomy and each of which is very dependent on the context in which the observations are made. This paper enumerates some of the key factors that have a direct bearing on the definition of minorities; provides some indication of the difficulties this presents when attempting to “measure minorities” in official statistics; and suggests some approaches to address the difficulties outlined in the previous point. Recent experiences in collecting data on visible minorities in Canada are used to illustrate some …of the points raised in the paper. The discussion concludes with the following recommendations for agencies and researches concerned with observing and measuring minorities: (1) be sensitive to the tension that may exist between the collective definition of the minority under observation and the perception of the individuals belonging to this minority with respect to their classification; (2) restrict the definitions of minorities to features that are observable, hence measurable; (3) be conscious of the dynamic nature of the definitions and of the individuals' perception of the relevance of these definitions to their particular situation or context; (4) ensure that the respondents (subjects under observation) are informed of the need for the data and the benefits that they may accrue by providing this information; and (5) both the direct and indirect approaches to defining minorities in data collection vehicles should be considered. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-308

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 205-216, 2001

Authors: Raines, Marvin D.

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The United States Census Bureau, in planning Census 2000, developed a network of community-based and national organizations (called Census Partners) that were tasked with helping to increase awareness, knowledge, and cooperation among their constituent populations. Historically, new immigrant groups, especially those from non-democratic societies, have been difficult to accurately enumerate using traditional methods and procedures. This paper discusses the preliminary results from a review of the partnerships established in five separate communities of new immigrants across the US, specifically, the Laotian community of Fresno, California; the Haitian community of Miami, Florida; the Bosnian community of Saint Louis, Missouri; the Iraqi …community of Dearborn, Michigan; and the Somali community of Minneapolis, Minnesota. It provides information on the innovative initiatives implemented by the Census Partners in these communities; examines the effectiveness of the relationships that existed between the local Census Bureau officials and local partners; and reports on the extent to which these partnerships accomplished the Partnership Program goals. Recommendations for future research on effective strategies for gaining cooperation among diverse populations are also provided. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-309

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 217-226, 2001

Authors: Brunborg, Helge

Article Type: Research Article

Abstract: The paper discusses how statistical analysis can contribute to investigations and trials at a war crimes tribunal, based on the author's experience at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. The main objective of the author's project has been to obtain estimates of population changes in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the 1992–95 armed conflicts, focusing on dead, missing, displaced persons, and refugees. The exact number of affected persons is not known, with estimates varying from 20 000 to more than 300 000 war-related deaths. Most of the work has been done with data collected on individuals for all or …parts of Bosnia – pre-war population, victims and survivors. Procedures for quality checking and matching of such data, which often have weaknesses in the form of missing or wrong information such as misspelling of names, have been developed. Examples are given of the number of victims for some areas, for which strong numerical indications of ethnic cleansing are found. In this paper we describe our work at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and give two examples of findings for Bosnia and Herzegovina for the war period 1992–1995. The first example is an analysis of the number of missing and dead persons after the fall of the Srebrenica enclave on 11 July 1995, which has been called Europe's worst massacre since World War II. As the result of our work, we conclude that a minimum of 7 475 persons from the Srebrenica enclave are missing and presumed dead. Our analysis shows that only a very small number of the persons registered on lists of missing persons could be alive. The results from this project have been presented in court in the trial against General Radislav Krstic, who is charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war. We also present an example of estimation of ethnic cleansing of an area. Show more

DOI: 10.3233/SJU-2001-182-310

Citation: Statistical Journal of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe, vol. 18, no. 2-3, pp. 227-238, 2001