Finding the Gaps: Monitoring Economic and Social Rights in the Pacific

The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) provides annual scores to show how well countries are meeting their human rights obligations and treating their people as well as they can. 

HRMI's economic and social rights measurement methodology uses Purchasing Power Parity (PPP$) per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data to calculate what a country should be able to achieve for its people in the areas of education, food, health, housing and work. 

In this paper, the authors find the lack of PPP$ data is a critical gap, meaning HRMI cannot produce scores for nine Pacific countries.

Among the twelve Pacific countries with PPP$ data available, there are also significant data gaps. The authors find some of these gaps could be filled in two ways:

• Searching alternative data sources (country specific and regional specific data bases, websites and documents).
• Substituting alternative indicators for those where gaps are largest.

Both options would require additional funding.

See more information about the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI).

DOI: doi.org/10.29310/WP.2021.11