V. >> F ramework in Practice - Implementing and Monitoring Rights
>> Using indicators for human rights
In an ideal context, a human rights action plan for a
country should be part of its national development
plan.14 This may, however, not always be the case
for local institutional reasons (such as division
of responsibilities between finance or economic
planning ministries on the one hand, and the justice department, NHRI or the agency responsible
Box 33
for human rights on the other), methodological
limitations (lack of specific tools to reflect or
integrate human rights in the national development
plans), as well as scepticism among economic
policymakers about working with human rights.
The indicator framework for human rights presented
in this Guide can help bridge this gap.
Development as a legal entitlement - India
The Indian Government has adopted a strategy for inclusive development, with the creation of entitlements backed by legal guarantees on aspects of life that are vital for an individual’s well-being and inclusion in the economic and social mainstream of society as an important element. In the past five years, the
Government has worked towards realizing the right to information and the right to work. This was
followed up with the enactment of the right to education in 2009–10. Now the Government is working on
a food security bill, which would represent a significant step in guaranteeing the right to food. To fulfil these
commitments, spending on the social sector has been rapidly increased from 33 to 38 per cent of total
Central Government spending in 2011–12. This change in the social development paradigm has been
brought about by the concerted efforts of the National Advisory Council of the ruling party, which is largely
composed of CSOs and subject experts.
Source: Finance Minister’s budget speeches 2009 to 2012, available from http://finmin.nic.in/.
To mainstream human rights in national development plans or, alternatively, to encourage the
integration of NHRAPs in national development
plans, it is useful to see first if they overlap on
certain issues. Depending on the country, these
could be social and human development issues
related to education, health, social security or
issues related to the administration of justice or per-
sistent discrimination of certain population groups.
Having identified the common issues, efforts could
be directed at flagging the human rights obligations
not being addressed in the ongoing programmes,
followed by outlining a practical way of addressing
them. This could be done by highlighting the
usefulness of the commitment-effort-results indicator framework and the underlying implementation
14. A
s shown in the OHCHR Handbook on National Human Rights Plans of Action (HR/P/PT/10), great care is required to link such
plans to existing overarching national development frameworks (e.g., national development plans, common country assessments
(CCAs) and United Nations Development Assistance Framework (UNDAF), poverty reduction strategy papers of the International
Monetary Fund and the World Bank) and other planning processes to ensure that human rights concerns are not unwittingly
quarantined.
120 Human Rights Indicators
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