Part A

Towards an instrument for Human Rights Impact Assessment at eu level

1 Introduction: Background and definitions

2 Human Rights Impact Assessment (hria)

3 Game of Goose: The road towards hria

4 Implementing hria ? Seven procedural steps

5 Three Squares: Opportunities for eu policies

Part B

Conference on Human Rights Impact Assessment, Brussels, 19-20 November 2001

1 Conference Program

2 Summaries of Presentations

Part C 

Appendices

1 Basic principles of hria

2 The use of indicators

3 Examples of human rights measurement and reporting

4 Examples of impact assessment in other areas

5 Literature

6 Lists of participants

At all levels of EU political decision making, human rights impact should be taken into account. Human Rights Impact Assessment (HRIA) is a means to ensure that this is being done in a systematic way. The Netherlands Humanist Committee on Human Rights (HOM), has explored ways in which HRIA could be made an effective instrument and so improve the quality of European Union policies. hom convened several meetings to discuss approaches towards human rights measurement and impact assessment. At the Conference on Human Rights Impact Assessment organised by HOM in Brussels (November 2001), participants elaborated on the question of how to implement hria in eu decision making processes. The findings are reflected in this report. The worldwide human rights community, research institutions and intergovernmental bodies have initiated the development of instruments to measure human rights performance. Concomitantly, there has been an increasing call at the political level to assess the impact of policy measures. Emphasis is shifting from preaching principles to obtaining and measuring results. For eu policies there is now a real opportunity to combine these strands for the benefit of human rights promotion and protection. The 'mainstreaming' of human rights is one of the eu's objectives. Consequently, there is a growing need for clear objectives and criteria for a coherent and effective human rights policy. There is also a need for precise and transparent formulation of policy initiatives, with criteria, indicators, benchmarks and a timeframe being set. These arguments speak in favour of a more systematic, in-depth and transparent reporting on the formulation and implementation of policies. Only then can combined impact be assessed and can policy makers learn from the results. HRIA is an essential element of this process.

Using the metaphor of the Game of Goose (a popular Dutch game) the authors describe some of the steps to be taken for bringing hria to its well deserved materialization. The report defines hria as a systematic process to ensure the integration of human rights aspects in decision making throughout the policy formulation, implementation, checking and adapting process. hria should include a fixed set of criteria derived from international law and standards, according to which human rights performance can be held accountable. Country assessments, using both quantitative and qualitative indicators, are an essential element of hria. They should be open for scrutiny by politicians, experts and ngos. HOM proposes seven procedural steps that will facilitate a continuous checking and adapting process:

1. Assessment of the actual human rights situation;

2. Political analysis;

3. Selection of the essential questions and outline of policy options;

4. Political decision making on policy measures;

5. Implementation of policy actions;

6. Monitoring;

7. Evaluation.