Center for Economic and Social Rights
Hotel Tryp Ambassador, Madrid - 22 and 23 March 2012
Third Annual Meeting of Metrics for Human Rights and Development
AGENDA
Thursday March 22
8:30 - 9:00: Registration and coffee
9:00 - 9:30 Welcome, introductions and aims of the meeting
The organizers will make introductory remarks about the purpose of the meeting, explaining the
special focus on methods for monitoring the fulfillment of economic, social and cultural (ESC)
rights and the rationale behind the agenda. Their comments will help frame discussion over the
two days.
9:30 - 11:00 Session 1. TAKING STOCK: Progress and challenges for ESC rights monitoring
These presentations will give an analytical overview of the state of the field and current
challenges in ESC rights monitoring from the perspective of human rights practitioners working
in different spheres. The session will identify the main trends and developments in ESCR
monitoring over the last decade, the current challenges posed by the external environment and
the most significant gaps in strategy/capacity that human rights and development advocates
need to confront in this area.
Chair: Rebecca Brown (ESCR-Net)
Presentations:
??? Christian Courtis (OHCHR), Surveying the field of ESC rights monitoring: an OHCHR
perspective
??? Meghna Abraham (AI), Reflections on AI??s ESC rights monitoring a decade after Dakar
??? Eibe Riedel (UN CESCR), Taking stock of advances in treaty body monitoring
??? Radhika Balakrishnan (CWGL), Economics & Rights: interdisciplinary monitoring
approaches
??? Elijah Odhiambo (Hakijamii), Methodological challenges in ESCR monitoring in
complex environments
11.00-11.30 Break
1 Formerly the International Network on Quantitative Methods for Human Rights and Development.
International Network on Quantitative Methods for Human Rights & Development
11.30-13:00 Session 2. TAKING STOCK: Lessons learnt from litigation
ESC rights litigation in jurisdictions across the globe has brought greater conceptual clarity to
the normative content of these rights, seeking to elucidate the meaning of complex principles
such as ???progressive realization according to maximum available resources???. Litigation is a
critical arena for methodological innovation and for the application of tools to operationalize
these principles. This session will take stock of methodological advances and challenges in
building evidence of ESC rights violations, particularly breaches of positive obligations, as well as
methods to measure the impact of ESC rights adjudication.
Chair: Sandra Ratjen (ICJ)
Presentations:
??? Bruce Porter (SRAC), Evidentiary challenges in ESC rights adjudication, domestic &
international
??? Jackie Dugard (SERI), Adjudicating ??progressive realization?? in the South African
context
??? Siri Gloppen (CMI), Quantitative and qualitative methods in right to health litigation
??? Mart??n Sigal (ACIJ), Combining quantitative and qualitative evidentiary methods: a
practical case study
13:00-14:15 Lunch
14:15-16:00 Session 3. METHODS IN FOCUS: Rights-based indicators
Indicators are an important tool for monitoring ESC rights fulfillment. Quantitative indicators
are particularly necessary to assess public policies in light of concepts such as progressive
realization, minimum essential levels and non-discrimination. The development of indicators has
been a burgeoning field in recent years. While much of this work has focused on specific rights,
OHCHR has developed an indicator framework applicable across the range of rights. This session
will also explore a number of indicator sets on specific rights, and will distill the lessons learnt
from their application in particular contexts, including the Millennium Development Goals.
Chair: Claire Mahon (Geneva Academy)
Presentations:
??? Grace Sanico (OHCHR), The OHCHR indicators framework
??? Inga Winkler (GIHR), Towards rights-based MDG indicators for water & sanitation
??? Simone Cecchini (CEPAL ), Indicators to monitor investment in social protection
??? Rajat Khosla (AI), Sexual and reproductive health indicators and Cairo +20
??? Bailey Grey (RTE Project), Lesson learned in applying right to education indicators
??? Jo Schechla (HIC), Quantifying the effects of forced eviction and displacement
??? Justin Simeone (NYU), Quantifying Vulnerability to Sexual Violence in Haiti???s IDP
Camps
16:00-16:30 Break
16:30-18:00 Session 4. METHODS IN FOCUS: Rights-based budget analysis
The design and implementation of methods for assessing the resource dimension of the
obligation to fulfill (the use of maximum available resources) is one of the most advanced areas
in economic and social rights monitoring. This session will take stock of the lessons learnt in the
applied use of rights-based budget analysis in different settings.
Chair: Gilbert Onyango (East African Center for Human Rights)
Presentations:
??? Ann Blyberg (IHRIP/IBP), State of play in applied budget monitoring
??? Aoife Nolan (U of Durham), Budget monitoring from an ESCR perspective: lessons
learnt from practical application
??? Anugula Reddy (NUEPA), Financing the right to education: evidence from India
??? Alexandre Ciconello (INESC) Insights gained from INESC??s budget and human rights
methodology
18:00 Wrap up - end of day one
19:00 Tapas Reception
Friday March 23
9:00 ??? 11:00 Session 5. FRAMING FULFILMENT: Quantitative monitoring of progressive realization
This session explores innovative quantitative methods for evaluating states?? overall compliance
with the obligation to progressively fulfill ESC rights taking into account their resources. It will
include analysis of findings and insights gained from the development of an index to measure
state economic and social rights performance, as well as the experience of monitoring MDG and
human rights compliance using indicators of states??? expenditure and revenue.
Chair: Nicholas Lusiani (CESR)
Presentations:
??? Sakiko Fukuda-Parr (New School), Evaluating state performance to improve human
well-being by the metric of human rights
??? Susan Randolph (U of Connecticut), Crafting policy regimes that advance ESCR:
evidence from a multivariate analysis
??? Terra Lawson- Rehmer (New School), Using GDP as proxy for resources
??? Edward Anderson and Malcolm Langford (UEA and NCHR), Monitoring MDG
compliance on water and sanitation using Maximum Available Resources
11:00
Break
11:30-13:00 Session 6. FRAMING FULFILMENT: The OPERA framework
In practice, rights-based policy monitoring requires a comprehensive,
multidimensional approach to assessing ESCR fulfillment, integrating quantitative and
qualitative methods within a broader analytical framework. In this session, CESR???s OPERA
framework will be introduced, as an overarching assessment framework within which multiple
measurement methodologies can be integrated. The lessons learnt from applying the monitoring
framework in concrete settings will be shared, and feedback sought from participants on how
the framework could be further developed and applied.
Chair: Ignacio Saiz (CESR)
Presentations:
??? Allison Corkery (CESR), OPERA: A framework for integrating quantitative and
qualitative tools to monitor the obligation to fulfil ESCR
??? Sally Anne Way (CESR/University of Essex), Operationalizing OPERA: lessons learnt
from practical application
??? Discussants tbc
13:00
Lunch
14:30-16:00 Session 7. NEW HORIZONS: Opportunities ahead
The purpose of this session is to provide participants with a space for reflecting on the various
approaches and strands of work explored in the previous sessions, and how these can be more
effectively deployed to confront the key accountability gaps of our time. It aims to stimulate a
discussion on critical next steps in the theory and practice of ESCR monitoring, taking into
account opportunities and challenges presented by the current global context.
Simultaneous break-out groups ??? themes to be confirmed.
1. Monitoring ESC rights in times of economic crisis and recession
Introductory presentation: Ros Mackenna (AI Ireland)
2. Rights-based metrics and the post-2015 development agenda
Introductory presentation: Joachim Nahem (UNDP)
3. Monitoring accountability of non-state actors
Introductory presentation: Claire Methven (DIHR)
4. Monitoring in the context of the ICESCR Optional Protocol mechanism
Introductory presentation: tbc
16:00-16:15
Break
16:15-17:00 Session 7 Report Back
17:00-17.45 Session 8. NEW HORIZONS: Weaving threads together
Concluding remarks drawing on the array of presentations demonstrating how monitoring can
be used to bring about effective policy change, enhance enforcement and accountability, and
most crucially, improve people??s lives. Organizers and participants will reflect upon the
opportunities these experiences offer to break down disciplinary silos and advance quantitative
and qualitative monitoring methods & frameworks as powerful tools for human rights advocacy.
17:45 END OF MEETING