A/HRC/31/31
rights priorities and concerns and to ensure integration of human rights principles into the
second five-year National Development Plan.38
49.
Some measurement methodologies focus on the negative impacts of laws, policies,
programmes and development projects on the realization of rights. By providing facts and
figures, these measurements help to identify and/or quantify negative effects on individuals
and communities and argue in favour of changing State actions.
50.
In the development context, a number of methodologies can be of particular
importance. Human rights impact assessments, for example, are tools “for examining
policies, legislation, programmes and projects and measuring their impact on human
rights”.39 These assessments analyse the impact of an intervention on the human rights of a
population, generally through indicators and other data analysis. Similarly, in the case of
business activities, some research shows that companies generally do not identify,
understand or aggregate the full range of costs associated with disagreement and conflict
with host communities. Quantification methods have shown the financial costs of these
situations for companies and States.40
51.
Eviction impact assessments can be a powerful tool for evaluating the real costs of
some projects. In many cases, calculation of the loss of income and assets for the
community resulting from eviction is far beyond what was foreseen in the relocation plan.
For instance, in May 2002, the inhabitants of a number of communities living on the
riverside in Surabaya, Indonesia, were threatened with eviction by the municipal
government. With the help of non-governmental organizations, the community gathered
information on losses in social assets, economic assets and physical assets. The assessment
showed an estimated loss of 238-286 billion Indonesian rupiah versus the 40 billion rupiah
the government budget had allocated for relocation. In addition:
The study found that these were well established communities with high levels of
investment in their own housing and facilities; high levels of capital accumulation
and circulation of money from informal economic activities in the settlements; and
relatively acceptable levels of access to infrastructure and services, with the
exception of drainage, adequate sanitation and paved roads.41
This information argued in favour of abandoning plans for relocating the communities and
instead embarking on a process of renovation, which in turn positively impacted their
economic, social and cultural rights.42
VII. Right to information and transparency at all stages of the
process, including timeliness, dissemination, availability
and accessibility
52.
Measurement models should provide transparent and available information on the
definitions, methodology, rationale, methods of computation, data sources, disaggregation
levels, periodicity and limitations used.
38
39
40
41
42
See Uganda Vision 2040, p. 108. Available at http://npa.ug/uganda-vision-2040/.
Nordic Trust Fund and World Bank, Human Rights Impact Assessments: A Review of the Literature,
Difference with Other Forms of Assessment and Relevance for Development (2013), p. ix.
See Rachel Davis and Daniel M. Franks, “Costs of company-community conflict in the extractive
sector”, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative Report No. 66 (Cambridge, Massachusetts,
Harvard Kennedy School, 2014).
See OHCHR and UN-Habitat, “Losing your home: assessing the impact of eviction” (2011), p. 45.
Ibid., sect. 3.5.2.
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