Methodology

The data used in this database come from the Universal Periodic Review reports. They draw from three external sources of information. The first two are sources the UPR uses when reviewing the country under consideration, namely “the information contained in the reports of independent human rights experts and groups, known as the special procedures, human rights treaty bodies, and other UN entities;” and “information from other stakeholders including national human rights institutions and non-governmental organizations.” The first is called “UN” in the database, while the second is called “NGOs.” The third source is the Report of the Working Group. The information from this third source is called in the database “States.” The recommendations from the Working Group in this report are reformulated into issues. The database does not use national reports.

The data in the database are presented by cycle (first, second, etc. review; based on the cycle, each country has been reviewed) and themes (equality and non-discrimination, children, women, etc., as formulated by UPR). Each theme presents positive data (accomplishment of the issue by the country under review) and negative data (concerns on the issue) as valued on the issue under consideration.

HRDA Project search is categorized in two parts: the Database and the Visual Analysis. Data in the Database are developed by reviewing and identification of issues both positive and negative from the above mentioned documents. Each issue is presented as a bullet point. The visual from the Visual Analysis is generated by analyzing the data from the Database and creating visual representations of the issues, both positive and negative, for each country and theme.