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formal legal acts in relation to international instruments, on the passing of laws relevant to rights, or the existence of bills of rights in the constitutions. Indicators related to states as donors or lenders (right side of the figure) may reveal the level of support for the human rights in other countries, including eěorts of international cooperation on human rights. At the process level, the indicators applicable to all states (leĞ side of figure 4.1) capture government activities related to reforming institutional behavior, including eěorts to decentralize resource allocation and decision making. These indicators may illustrate evolving priorities and commitments through changing resource allocations or through the promotion of policies and institutional reform which ensure nondiscrimination, participation, interaction with civil societies, and the institutionalization of complaints mechanisms. In respect of states as donors or lenders (right side of figure 4.1), indicators may reflect support for governance or may reveal eěorts to promote human rights principles and the integration of human rights in decentralization policies. At the outcome level, indicators measure how states seek to redress human rights violations, and they act to harmonize donor contributions in fields that may impact human rights, as well as how donors support eěorts to deal with inadequate human rights protection or fulfilment in developing countries. Outcome indicators applicable to all states are those identified as outcome indicators by OHCHR, and these relate generally to the enjoyment of rights under U.N. human rights treaties to which those states are party. Outcome indicators applicable to donors may relate to upholding the principle of “do no harm” in development cooperation, which may be implemented through human rights impact assessments. However, it should be underlined that the foregoing reflects a potential theoretical framework for such indicators rather than an account of their use in practice. The employment of human rights indicators is indicative of an approach in which governments, operating within their own territories or in their capacity as donors, assume responsibility in accordance with their international human rights obligations. Such strategies are illustrated by rights-based approaches, although very few donors selfconsciously characterize their development cooperation strategies as explicitly and directly rights-based,64 and even fewer link such strategies directly to human rights obligations. In the absence of such a general commitment and given the range of existing approaches, it may be argued that the use of human rights–based indicators becomes all the more important for donors and lenders, particularly at the outcome level, which measures changes in actual human rights enjoyment. The reliance on human rights indicators emanating from international human rights treaties might serve to promote coherence and consistency at the international level and further donor harmonization in relevant fields. This chapter has outlined three modes of integrating human rights into development: a non-explicit approach, integrating human rights principles, and integrating human rights obligations. The chapter has aĴempted to connect the various modes of human rights integration with various types of human rights indicators. Consistent with OHCHR practice, this analysis distinguishes between structure, process, and outcome indicators. Only under a human rights obligations approach analyzed in chapter 3 are all the three levels of human rights indicators included as a practice, whereas the non-explicit approach to integration typically only relates to human rights in select references to actual enjoyment of rights (outcomes) and the occasional incorporation of principles, such as participation or equality and equity. With human rights obligations vested in states as the primary duty-bearers, it may be useful to consider and distinguish how states use human rights indicators generally and how they use them as donors. There is a growing interest in documenting how donors and lenders fulfil their human rights obligations—but also in ascertaining how donors and lenders support borrowing or recipient states’ fulfilment of similar obligations and how to determine whether development assistance undermines human rights enjoyment.
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