International Human Rights, Co-Sponsored by Law and the Social Sciences

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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.