Definition and concepts |
Definition:
This indicator is defined as the proportion of the population (adults) who self-report that they personally experienced discrimination or harassment during the last 12 months based on ground(s) prohibited by international human rights law. International human rights law refers to the body of international legal instruments aiming to promote and protect human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and subsequent international human rights treaties adopted by the United Nations.
Concepts:
Discrimination is any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference or other differential treatment that is directly or indirectly based on prohibited grounds of discrimination, and which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life. Harassment is a form of discrimination when it is also based on prohibited grounds of discrimination. Harassment may take the form of words, gestures or actions, which tend to annoy, alarm, abuse, demean, intimidate, belittle, humiliate or embarrass another or which create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment. While generally involving a pattern of behaviours, harassment can take the form of a single incident.
International human rights law provides lists of the prohibited grounds of discrimination. The inclusion of “other status” in these lists indicate that they are not exhaustive and that other grounds may be recognized by international human rights mechanisms. A review of the international human rights normative framework helps identify a list of grounds that includes race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, social origin, property, birth status, disability, age, nationality, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation, pregnancy, indigenous status, afro-descent and other status. In practice, it will be difficult to include all potentially relevant grounds of discrimination in household survey questions. For this reason, it is recommended that data collectors identify contextually relevant and feasible lists of grounds, drawing on the illustrative list and formulation of prohibited grounds of discrimination outlined in the methodology section below, and add an “other” category to reflect other grounds that may not have been listed explicitly.
|
Method of computation |
Number of survey respondents who felt that they personally experienced discrimination or harassment on one or more prohibited grounds of discrimination during the last 12 months, divided by the total number of survey respondents, multiplied by 100.
To minimize the effect of forward telescoping, the module asks two questions: a first question about the respondent’s experience over the last 5 years, and a second question about the last 12 months:
- Question 1: In [COUNTRY], do you feel that you personally experienced any form of discrimination or harassment during the last 5 years, namely since [YEAR OF INTERVIEW MINUS 5] (or since you have been in the country), on the following grounds?
- Question 2: In [COUNTRY], do you feel that you personally experienced any form of discrimination or harassment during the past 12 months, namely since [MONTH OF INTERVIEW] [YEAR OF INTERVIEW MINUS 1], on any of these grounds?
The proposed survey module recommends that interviewer reads or the data collection mechanism provides a short definition of discrimination/harassment to the respondent before asking the questions. Providing respondents with a basic introduction to these notions helps improve their comprehension and recall of incidents. Following consultations with experts and complementary cognitive testing, the following introductory text is recommended:
Discrimination happens when you are treated less favourably compared to others or harassed because of the way you look, where you come from, what you believe or for other reasons. You may be refused equal access to work, housing, healthcare, education, marriage or family life, the police or justice system, shops, restaurants, or any other services or opportunities. You may also encounter comments, gestures or other behaviours that make you feel offended, threatened or insulted, or have to stay away from places or activities to avoid such behaviours.
The proposed survey module also recommends that a list of grounds is provided to respondents to facilitate comprehension and recall of incidents. As a starting point, OHCHR recommends the use of the following list of grounds prohibited by international human rights law and adding an “any other ground” category to capture grounds that are not explicitly listed. The module recommends that the following illustrative list is reviewed and contextualised at national level through a participatory process (see HRBAD and accompanying guidance) to reflect specific population groups and data collection/disaggregation needs:
1. SEX: such as being a woman or a man
2. AGE: such as being perceived to be too young or too old
3. DISABILITY OR HEALTH STATUS: such as having difficulty in seeing, hearing, walking or moving, concentrating or communicating, having a disease or other health conditions and no reasonable accommodation provided for it
4. ETHNICITY, COLOUR OR LANGUAGE: such as skin colour or physical appearance, ethnic origin or way of dressing, culture, traditions, native language, indigenous status, or being of African descent
5. MIGRATION STATUS: such as nationality or national origin, country of birth, refugees, asylum seekers, migrant status, undocumented migrants or stateless persons
6. SOCIO-ECONOMIC STATUS: such as wealth or education level, being perceived to be from a lower or different social or economic group or class, land or home ownership or not
7. GEOGRAPHIC LOCATION OR PLACE OF RESIDENCE: such as living in urban or rural areas, formal or informal settlements
8. RELIGION: such as having or not a religion or religious beliefs
9. MARITAL AND FAMILY STATUS: such as being single, married, divorced, widowed, pregnant, with or without children, orphan or born from unmarried parents
10. SEXUAL ORIENTATION OR GENDER IDENTITY: such as being attracted to person of the same sex, self-identifying differently from sex assigned at birth or as being either sexually, bodily and/or gender diverse
11. POLITICAL OPINION: such as expressing political views, defending the rights of others, being a member or not of a political party or trade union
12. OTHER GROUNDS
|