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.