IV. >> Illustrating the Framework - Indicators for Some Rights >> Selecting the indicators Furthermore, in terms of circumstances under which discrimination normally occurs, one could formulate attributes that reflect an individual’s access to an adequate standard of living, health and education and to livelihood opportunities. Equal access to public services, including access to justice, and to relevant services provided by private actors is vital for undoing the injustice of historical inequalities and discrimination that some segments of the population, such as women, ethnic groups, minorities, migrants and persons with disabilities, may have been subjected to. Violence, whether physical, sexual or psychological, targeting specific population groups is an extreme form of discrimination and also needs to be measured in this context. Moreover, the right to non-discrimination and equality recognizes the need for temporary special measures (sometimes referred to as affirmative action or positive discrimination) as enforcing the right in itself is not always sufficient to guarantee true equality.9 Temporary special measures may be needed to accelerate de facto equality. In women’s employment, for instance, a number of government agencies have adopted administrative instructions on the recruitment, promotion and placement of women, aiming at achieving a better gender distribution at all levels, and particularly at the higher echelons. Accordingly, four attributes have been identified: “equality before the law and protection of the person”, “direct or indirect discrimination by public and private actors nullifying or impairing access to education and health services”, “direct or indirect discrimination by public and private actors nullifying or impairing equality of livelihood opportunities” and “special measures including for participation in decision-making”. The use of the cluster of structural-process-outcome indicators for each of the identified attributes helps in reflecting the de jure and de facto aspects of the realization of the right. In selecting the indicators it is important for the information implicit in the indicator to be able to establish the fact that the treatment meted out to the discriminated person is different from that of others in a similar position (e.g., prevalence/incidence of crimes, including hate crime and domestic violence by target population groups), puts the person concerned at a disadvantage (e.g., proportion of public buildings with facilities for persons with disabilities), can be related to one or more of the identified prohibited grounds of discrimination and there are no valid reasons for such a differential treatment in the first place (e.g., time frame and coverage of policy or programme for equal access to education or the proportion of employers rejecting job applicants only on the grounds of their colour or ethnic origins). Given the cross-cutting nature of discrimination in the realization of all human rights, it is important to read and use the table of illustrative indicators on the right to non-discrimination in conjunction with the tables of indicators on the other human rights, as well as the table on violence against women. Table on violence against women Violence against women or gender-based violence is a form of discrimination that seriously inhibits women’s ability to enjoy rights and freedoms on a basis of equality with men.10 Violence against women is a human rights issue cutting across civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. Human rights mechanisms, including international11 and regional ones,12 have addressed it from a normative human rights perspective. Following the approach outlined in this Guide, a life cycle perspective is used to 9. The formulation “temporary special measures” is taken from article 4 (1) of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and described in general recommendation No. 25 (2004) of its Committee. 10. See general recommendation No. 19 (1992) of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. 11. See, for instance, “In-depth study on all forms of violence against women: Report of the Secretary-General” (A/61/122/Add.1). 12. See, for instance, the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa. 84 Human Rights Indicators