Felner, Eitan/Center for Economic and Social Rights. 2008. "A new frontier in economic and social rights advocacy? Using quanitative data for human rights accountability".
- Objective: Defines how to assess core obligations, progressive realization to the maximum of available resources, and discrimination in relation to outcomes of public policies to answer the question "to what extent do actions or omissions of State policy amount to a denial or violation of specific human rights?"
- Key characteristics: Focused on: rights to health and education, but can be adapted for most rights; ex-post analysis; obligation to fulfill; uses all indicators (structure, process, outcome); designed for use by CSO or human rights activist or international organization.
- Brief summary: Explains 1. how and when to use quantitative tools and development indicators, to identify deprivations and disparities in the enjoyment of ESR; 2. how to identify the various determinants of those deprivations and inequalities in the enjoyment of ESR, and 3. how to assess the adequacy of policy efforts of the state to address those obstacles and determinants.
- Best used for: Where statistical data is available, to make an argument as to whether a state is violating its human rights obligations.
- Data required: Uses national and international statistical data - which must be up-to-date and reliable data such as from World Bank or household surveys and requires disaggregated data.
- Possible disadvantages:
Dependency on up-to-date and reliable data
- Going forward:
How can we distinguish between deprivations resulting from factors beyond government's control and deprivations for which government policies are a major contributing factor?; Can we use GDP as a proxy measure of available resources?
- Complementary tools: would be good to consult the OHCHR's paper on indicators for further analysis of indicator usage.