In an era where facts are
frequently replaced with “alternative” facts, there is a growing need for
empirical approaches to the study of law. With the changing role of the U.S. in
the global arena, this is especially true in the field of international human
rights. How can one country’s compliance with complex human rights treaty
obligations be measured and compared with those of other countries? At the
intersection of law and social science, human rights indicators involve the
translation of legal obligations into quantitative or qualitative metrics,
which then allow countries to be compared with one another over time. This
panel seeks to contribute to the growing debate over how human rights
indicators can and should be used to identify human rights violations and to
assess progress with treaty obligations over time.
Business meeting at program conclusion.