speedometer: freevector/vecteezy.com Defending Dignity A Manual for National Human Rights Institutions on Monitoring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Data, which we will discuss further in Part II, tells us the value of an indicator in a particular case. For example, if the indicator being examined is “the number of people receiving retirement pensions”, the data will tell us if it is 100,000 or 500,000 or 1,000,000. 100 It is important to remember, however, that data by itself is just a number. To judge whether it is high or low, we need to know how the number compares against a reference point. A benchmark can provide such a reference point. A benchmark can be thought of as: • An agreed goal or target • A normative reference point, or • A predetermined standard for comparing performance. We can look at the difference between indicators, data and benchmarks using the analogy of the car dashboard. In this example, we want to answer the question: “Is the car driving too fast?” The image provides the information necessary to answer this question: • Indicator: Kilometres per hour • Data: Car travelling at 107 km/hr • Benchmark: 100 km/hr speed limit On the basis of this information, we can conclude that the car is going faster than the speed limit. 4.2. WHAT ARE HUMAN RIGHTS INDICATORS? Human rights indicators are indictors used as proxies to measure the enjoyment of rights by rights holders, as well as the degree to which duty bearers are meeting their human rights obligations. Importantly, human rights indicators differ from other types of statistical information in that they are unequivocal about their focus: people. There has been increasing interest in the use of indicators to measure human rights over the years: • “To strengthen the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights, additional approaches should be examined, such as a system of indicators to measure progress …” (Vienna Declaration, 1993) • “Information and statistics are a powerful tool for creating a culture of accountability and for realizing human rights” (Human Development Report, 2000) • “Systematic use of human rights indicators brings greater objectivity and transparency in human rights assessments and makes human rights monitoring more evidence-based” (OHCHR, 2011). One of the reasons for this interest is that, by breaking down abstract concepts into measurable components, human rights indicators can help clarify what different human rights standards and principles mean in particular contexts. OHCHR has developed an indicators framework that is applicable across a range of rights. A significant breakthrough pioneered by this framework is its clear conceptualization of human rights indicators as those that specifically relate to human rights norms and standards. The framework recognizes that socio-economic indicators, which have been used to measure development outcomes for a long time, can also be used as human rights indicators when they are applied to measure a particular human rights norm; for example, using disaggregated indicators on unemployment to uncover possible discrimination. 44