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Contributions from
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InWEnt News
ch@t between worlds – online to the Amazon
Negotiations
Can statistics take the measure of human rights?
HIV/AIDS: a burning issue for African journalists
Information and training on AIDS control at the workplace
02/2003
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InWEnt seminar with Eurostat
Can statistics take the measure of human rights?
'Statistics and Human Rights' – that was the title of a seminar in Brussels staged from 27 to 29 November 2002 by the InWEnt Centre for Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics in cooperation with the statistical office of the European Commission, Eurostat. The event was attended by experts on statistics and champions of human rights, who assembled to discuss ways in which statistical yardsticks could be developed for such things as human rights, democracy and (good) governance. The around 100 participants came from statistical offices, human rights organisations, research institutes, the European Commission, the World Bank, the United Nations and institutions active in development cooperation. The seminar was part of a series of events which kicked off in Montreux in 2000 and continued in January 2002 with a workshop in Munich on 'Measuring Democracy and Good Governance', which was also staged jointly by the InWEnt Centre and Eurostat.
The purpose of the Brussels seminar was to discuss the possibilities and limits of using statistics to measure human rights observance, quality of governance and progress towards democracy. The sheer size of the subject precluded the development of practical indicators but the assembled experts did identify areas of human rights where there is scope for definition by statistics and other areas where there are obstacles to statistical measurement. Statisticians and human rights experts have had precious little cause for contact in the past, so the first task in Brussels was to plot a common course.
Another step taken was the creation of a two-year pilot project called METAGORA, established with 2.1 million euros from the EU Commission to develop objective criteria for measuring the success of human rights interventions in a variety of countries. In addition, a first training programme on the same subject is planned for 2003 for training course participants from developing countries at the Munich Centre.
Thomas Wolnik
For more information, go to www.inwent-fz.de
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