Where
Town/city/province or other
sub-national entity where
the incident happened
Why
Country of incident
Region of incident
Context of the incident
Free text
Thematic area of
engagement of the victim
Coded (M49)
Coded (M49)
Reasonable basis to conclude that attack
was motivated by victim’s activities as a
journalist, trade unionist or human rights
defender
Unlawful attacks and destruction in violation
of international humanitarian law leading to
or intending to cause the victim’s death
Controlled natural language
Except for those that allow for free text and controlled natural language entries, all the different
categories are to be coded (see Statistical Classification Framework).
Verified case
Each case will have to be verified by the data source/provider in a manner consistent with OHCHR’s
human rights monitoring practice. Verification (or corroboration) refers to the process of ensuring
that information gathered by a data source has been checked against other information obtained
from independent and reliable sources. These can be primary or secondary sources, or sources
indicating patterns of events. Verification is not just a procedural step as it facilitates the rigorous
analysis of the elements, underlying context and broader implications of a particular case. The term
“verified cases” refers to reported cases that contain a minimum set of relevant information on
particular persons, which have been reviewed by mandated bodies, mechanisms, and institutions
and provided them with reasonable grounds to believe those persons were victims of human rights
violations or abuses.
Identifying the victim
The name of the victim is a minimum data requirement for two reasons. First, it is considered as one
of the most effective means of avoiding double counting. Second, since the data is generated by
human rights mechanisms and exist in the form of administrative records, there is a high probability
that granular information would include this piece of information. Moreover, data sources would
more likely than not consider the name of the victim as a minimum data requirement both for
technical/procedural as well as substantive (e.g. to support related accountability, remedies and
reparations processes) reasons. Where a victim's name is known but the data source would deem it
more prudent – in order to mitigate or avoid further harm – to not disclose it, the case should still be
counted provided that the other considerations (case specificity, verifiability and event
distinctiveness) are met.
Counting rules
The basic counting unit for this indicator is the victim, which means that one case should yield one
victim and the totals for both will have to be identical. A single incident that claimed two victims will
have to be recorded as two cases corresponding to each victim.
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