Let's measure what we treasure: human rights | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington
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0:19 - 0:23You understand the importance of light
and the truth, right? -
0:24 - 0:26Imagine a world without them.
-
0:27 - 0:30I’m here to talk about
how we need more, of both. -
0:31 - 0:34I’m going to start with a true story
-
0:34 - 0:36about the kinds of things that happen
-
0:36 - 0:39when too much of the world
is operating in darkness. -
0:42 - 0:46On a warm October day in 2018,
-
0:46 - 0:49a Saudi Arabian journalist
called Jamal Khashoggi -
0:49 - 0:52walked into the
Saudi Consulate in Istanbul, -
0:52 - 0:56to get some papers he needed
to marry his Turkish fiancée. -
0:57 - 1:01She waited outside for him for hours.
-
1:01 - 1:04She never saw him again.
-
1:05 - 1:07You may remember hearing about this case,
-
1:07 - 1:10because it made headlines
around the world. -
1:11 - 1:15We know from a number
of different investigations -
1:15 - 1:19that Saudi government agents
went into the consulate, -
1:19 - 1:21killed Mr. Khashoggi
-
1:21 - 1:23and dismembered his body.
-
1:24 - 1:27Let me be clear about what I just said.
-
1:28 - 1:33Government agents killed a journalist
to silence his truths. -
1:34 - 1:39These kinds of happenings are both
shocking and surprisingly common. -
1:42 - 1:45But I’m pretty sure
that if the Saudi government had known -
1:45 - 1:49that this case would make
headlines worldwide, -
1:49 - 1:51and stay there for weeks,
-
1:51 - 1:53they wouldn’t have done it, right?
-
1:54 - 1:58They wanted to commit
their crimes in the dark, -
1:58 - 2:01not in broad daylight for all to see.
-
2:01 - 2:04Which raises some questions.
-
2:05 - 2:08What if we could shine a brighter light
-
2:08 - 2:10on the world’s injustices
and wrong-doings? -
2:10 - 2:15And what if, by doing so, we could
incentivise governments everywhere -
2:15 - 2:17to treat people with more respect
-
2:17 - 2:22and listen to the voices of their critics
rather than silencing them? -
2:26 - 2:29This is the world
that I’m working to create. -
2:32 - 2:34I’d like you to take a moment -
-
2:34 - 2:36you’re welcome to close your eyes -
-
2:36 - 2:39and ask yourself this question:
-
2:39 - 2:42what is it that you and your family need
-
2:42 - 2:47to live in dignity and fulfill
your potential as human beings? -
2:57 - 3:00You might be thinking about good food
or a roof over your head, -
3:00 - 3:03access to healthcare or education,
-
3:03 - 3:06or a good job, or social security,
-
3:06 - 3:10or you might be thinking about
the freedom to be yourself -
3:10 - 3:16and speak your mind without fear
of arrest, torture, imprisonment or worse. -
3:17 - 3:21These things are not luxuries.
They are human rights. -
3:21 - 3:26They have been defined and set out
in international human rights law. -
3:26 - 3:30Countries have made promises
to respect them. -
3:34 - 3:35But until now,
-
3:35 - 3:39no one has been tracking
how well each country is doing -
3:39 - 3:44on making sure every person
is able to enjoy each human right. -
3:44 - 3:47I know, I was surprised to learn this too.
-
3:48 - 3:51For 20 years, I was an economist.
-
3:51 - 3:54In the mid-2000s, I was working
at the OECD in Paris, -
3:54 - 3:57giving economic policy advice
to governments. -
3:57 - 3:58I really loved my job.
-
3:58 - 4:03I found it super interesting to look at
each country through the economist lens -
4:03 - 4:05and figure out what advice to offer.
-
4:06 - 4:08But there was one problem.
-
4:08 - 4:12In every country, there were
human rights violations. -
4:12 - 4:15I was reading about mistreatment
of Kurds in Turkey -
4:15 - 4:18and Roma in Slovakia,
-
4:18 - 4:20and I was always kind of looking for ways
-
4:20 - 4:24that I could try and bring these
human rights issues into my reports. -
4:24 - 4:26But there was only so far I could go,
-
4:26 - 4:28because when economists give advice,
-
4:28 - 4:32it always has to be based
on empirical evidence, -
4:32 - 4:36and what I learned is that there was
no comprehensive database -
4:36 - 4:39tracking the human rights
performance of countries. -
4:41 - 4:42This is a problem.
-
4:42 - 4:44This was a problem.
-
4:45 - 4:47When you’re assessing
the state of the world, -
4:47 - 4:53chances are you’re going to be looking
first at the things you’ve got data for: -
4:53 - 4:56income per person,
trade and investment flows, -
4:56 - 4:57carbon emissions ...
-
4:58 - 5:00It’s very difficult for any government
-
5:00 - 5:03to put human rights
at the heart of its agenda, -
5:03 - 5:06if they don’t have the data they need.
-
5:07 - 5:11After that, I just couldn’t let go
of the fact that there was this data gap. -
5:12 - 5:15A few years later,
after moving back to New Zealand, -
5:15 - 5:18I can remember being at home
with my son when he was little, -
5:18 - 5:22and after putting him to bed
for his afternoon nap, -
5:22 - 5:25I felt this magnetic pull
back to the computer -
5:25 - 5:28where I was researching
who was measuring human rights. -
5:28 - 5:33I was contacting the world’s experts
and asking them questions. -
5:33 - 5:37Why were human rights
not being systematically measured? -
5:38 - 5:39Could it be done?
-
5:40 - 5:43Lots of the emails I sent got no reply.
-
5:45 - 5:46But many of them did.
-
5:47 - 5:49There were a few people who told me
-
5:49 - 5:52that this idea of systematically
tracking human rights -
5:52 - 5:55was a good idea, but too ambitious
-
5:56 - 6:01Only one or two people told me
it was impossible, ridiculous even. -
6:01 - 6:03I wasn’t too bothered.
-
6:03 - 6:06My philosophy was to go
where the energy was. -
6:07 - 6:08And by following the energy,
-
6:08 - 6:12I linked up with two super clever
human rights academics -
6:12 - 6:14who shared my vision,
-
6:14 - 6:15Susan Randolph and Chad Clay,
-
6:15 - 6:19and together we founded the
Human Rights Measurement Initiative, -
6:19 - 6:21or HRMI (pronounced 'hermi') for short.
-
6:23 - 6:26Even before HRMI had $1 of funding,
-
6:26 - 6:31we’ve been working with human rights
practitioners from around the world -
6:31 - 6:33to make sure that we produce data
-
6:33 - 6:38that accurately reflects the situation
on the ground in different countries. -
6:38 - 6:41Our goal is to make sure
that you can see more -
6:41 - 6:45than just those few headline cases,
like Mr. Khashoggi's, -
6:45 - 6:46that make it into the news.
-
6:46 - 6:50We are turning on
more lights around the world. -
6:51 - 6:56I feel both privileged and humbled
to be able to do the work that I do -
6:56 - 7:02because I know that in many other
countries around the world -
7:02 - 7:07human rights defenders are putting
their lives at risk every single day, -
7:07 - 7:11just for documenting
the injustices that they see. -
7:12 - 7:17So I’m really pleased that HRMI is
helping to amplify the voices -
7:17 - 7:19of these amazing people
-
7:19 - 7:22so that their work can have more impact.
-
7:22 - 7:26And I’m really pleased
that the collective vision that HRMI has -
7:26 - 7:30is no longer just a vision;
it’s now a collective endeavour. -
7:30 - 7:36We already have hundreds of human rights
practitioners around the world -
7:36 - 7:41contributing, on a volunteer basis,
their time and knowledge -
7:41 - 7:45to help turn on more lights,
fill these data gaps, -
7:46 - 7:48bring more attention
to what really matters. -
7:51 - 7:55So how do we measure the human rights
performance of countries? -
7:55 - 7:59So far, we’ve got two main methodologies.
-
7:59 - 8:04First, whenever possible,
we use publicly available statistics. -
8:05 - 8:06For Quality of Life rights,
-
8:06 - 8:11things like the rights to food,
education, health, housing and work, -
8:11 - 8:15this gives us really great
country coverage. -
8:16 - 8:20This map shows, in blue, all 169 countries
-
8:20 - 8:23where we are tracking country performance
on the right to health. -
8:24 - 8:28A lot of the statistical indicators
that we look at are the same ones -
8:28 - 8:32used to monitor the United Nations'
Sustainable Development Goals. -
8:32 - 8:37But here’s the difference:
we don’t just look at the raw statistics. -
8:37 - 8:39We do something much more vital.
-
8:39 - 8:44We convert them into numbers that make
sense from a human rights perspective. -
8:45 - 8:48To do this, we have adopted
an award-winning approach -
8:48 - 8:52that was developed by my HRMI co-founder,
Susan, and her colleagues. -
8:52 - 8:56And what it does is it judges
each country by a different benchmark -
8:56 - 9:00depending on that country’s
level of income. -
9:00 - 9:04So both richer countries
and poorer countries will get low scores -
9:04 - 9:06if they’re not using
their available resources -
9:06 - 9:10as effectively as other countries
at those income levels have done; -
9:10 - 9:13for example, to bring about
good health outcomes. -
9:13 - 9:16This approach is genius,
-
9:16 - 9:19not only because it measures
how countries are doing -
9:19 - 9:23on the basis of how these rights are
defined in international law, -
9:23 - 9:26but also because it’s just logical.
-
9:26 - 9:31It makes sense to hold high income
countries to a higher standard of account -
9:31 - 9:33for their health outcomes
-
9:33 - 9:35than poorer countries, right?
-
9:36 - 9:41Second, for civil and political rights,
we collect the data ourselves. -
9:41 - 9:43These rights include all sorts of things
-
9:43 - 9:48from killings and torture
to voting rights and free speech. -
9:49 - 9:52You might be surprised to learn
that these are all things -
9:52 - 9:55that official statistics
just don’t keep track of. -
9:56 - 9:59So we brought in experts
from Amnesty International, -
9:59 - 10:02organisations like Human Rights Watch,
-
10:02 - 10:07and together we developed an expert survey
so that we could collect this information -
10:07 - 10:11from people who are monitoring events
on the ground in each country. -
10:12 - 10:17We’re really happy with how well
our expert survey is working out. -
10:17 - 10:20So far, we have data
for these 19 countries, -
10:20 - 10:23and that number is growing every year.
-
10:23 - 10:26Most importantly, people tell us
-
10:26 - 10:31that our scores accurately reflect
the situation on the ground -
10:31 - 10:35in the countries that they
are knowledgeable about. -
10:37 - 10:41Let me introduce you
to some of our data insights -
10:41 - 10:45by sharing with you one quiz question.
-
10:46 - 10:49'Which of these countries performs best
-
10:50 - 10:55on respecting the right to freedom
from extrajudicial execution? -
10:57 - 11:02Jordan, Venezuela, Saudi Arabia,
the United States or Mexico?' -
11:03 - 11:04Now, while you think about it,
-
11:04 - 11:07just let me give you
a little more information. -
11:08 - 11:09First, a definition:
-
11:09 - 11:13extrajudicial killings are killings
by government agents, -
11:13 - 11:15like what happened to Mr. Khashoggi,
-
11:15 - 11:18but more commonly things
like police shootings. -
11:19 - 11:23And let me also tell you a little more
about where the scores come from. -
11:23 - 11:26In February and March this year,
-
11:26 - 11:30we sent our expert survey
to people monitoring human rights -
11:30 - 11:34in all five of these
countries, and others, -
11:34 - 11:38and each person told us
how well they think their country is doing -
11:38 - 11:41on respecting this right, and others.
-
11:41 - 11:44And we use some really sophisticated
statistical techniques -
11:44 - 11:47for ensuring that different
people’s responses -
11:47 - 11:50can be made comparable with one another.
-
11:52 - 11:54Okay, so do you have in mind
-
11:54 - 11:57what you think the answer
to this question is? -
11:59 - 12:00The answer is Jordan.
-
12:01 - 12:06And here you can see the scores
for all five of these countries. -
12:07 - 12:11The little vertical solid lines
that you see are our best estimate -
12:11 - 12:14of what the score is for each country.
-
12:15 - 12:19Countries with wider uncertainty bands,
like Saudi Arabia’s, -
12:19 - 12:23tell us that we are less certain
exactly where the true score lies, -
12:23 - 12:28perhaps because there may
have been less agreement -
12:28 - 12:32among the respondents who filled in
our survey for Saudi Arabia. -
12:33 - 12:35Narrower uncertainty bands, like Mexico’s,
-
12:35 - 12:39tell us that we are more certain
about what the score is for that country. -
12:40 - 12:42The overlap of the bands is important.
-
12:42 - 12:46We can be confident that Jordan
is performing better than Venezuela -
12:46 - 12:49because their bands don’t overlap.
-
12:49 - 12:52We're less confident exactly
what the relative ranking would be -
12:52 - 12:55of the countries that come next.
-
12:56 - 13:00Of course this is just a subset of all
the countries we have data for. -
13:00 - 13:02Let me add in some more.
-
13:03 - 13:08Here you can see New Zealand, Australia,
South Korea and the United Kingdom. -
13:08 - 13:11No country gets a perfect score
-
13:11 - 13:13because in every country,
even New Zealand, -
13:13 - 13:15there is room for improvement.
-
13:16 - 13:18How is this information useful?
-
13:19 - 13:22HRMI is not an advocacy organisation,
-
13:22 - 13:27so we don’t tell governments
what they could be doing differently. -
13:27 - 13:30But you can use our data for that purpose.
-
13:30 - 13:33So let’s say your country
had a lowish score, -
13:33 - 13:36so it’s down this end of the scale,
-
13:36 - 13:38and you want to move it that way.
-
13:38 - 13:39What can you do?
-
13:39 - 13:43I’m sure the possibilities are endless,
but let’s just discuss a few. -
13:44 - 13:50You could encourage your country to embark
on the challenging but vital task -
13:50 - 13:52of retraining your police force.
-
13:52 - 13:56You could meet with vulnerable
and minority groups -
13:56 - 14:01and take their advice
on how to reform your institutions. -
14:02 - 14:07You could look at the laws and policies
of your better-performing neighbours -
14:07 - 14:10and you could also choose to do better.
-
14:11 - 14:16We have a scoreboard like this for eight
different civil and political rights, -
14:16 - 14:20and for each one of them,
for each country and for each right, -
14:20 - 14:25we also collect information
on what is driving their scores. -
14:25 - 14:26So let’s say you wanted to know
-
14:26 - 14:31why the United States
is performing so poorly on this right. -
14:32 - 14:34You could learn that part of the reason
-
14:34 - 14:39is because there are too many
police shootings of people of colour. -
14:39 - 14:42Our US experts told us
-
14:42 - 14:48that the people who are most at risk of
extrajudicial killing in the United States -
14:48 - 14:50are African Americans,
-
14:50 - 14:52Latinx people,
-
14:53 - 14:55Native Americans,
-
14:56 - 14:59and children detained at the border.
-
15:01 - 15:04These insights I've shared
from our database -
15:04 - 15:07are just some of the thousands
that you can find there, -
15:07 - 15:13and that’s before we have even expanded
our survey to all countries in the world. -
15:15 - 15:19I know that all of this
can feel quite heavy. -
15:19 - 15:21That’s because it is.
-
15:23 - 15:24So I’m happy to share with you
-
15:24 - 15:29that we also have some
really positive, good news stories -
15:29 - 15:31in HRMI’s database as well.
-
15:32 - 15:35Here’s a good news chart
from the Africa region. -
15:36 - 15:40Each of the coloured sections
shows you one Quality of Life right, -
15:40 - 15:45and what you can see is there has been
slow but gradual improvement -
15:45 - 15:50in the performance, on average,
across the African continent. -
15:50 - 15:52And the good news story gets even better
-
15:52 - 15:57because HRMI data also show
a gradual trend improvement -
15:57 - 16:02in the fulfillment of these rights
in all regions of the world. -
16:02 - 16:06This is a really positive
human rights story. -
16:06 - 16:10I love it and it fills me
with a lot of hope. -
16:12 - 16:14One thing that I’ve noticed
-
16:14 - 16:20since making my career transition
from economist to co-founder of HRMI, -
16:20 - 16:24is that when I catch up
with old friends and I tell them -
16:24 - 16:28that what I’m now doing is measuring
the human rights performance of countries, -
16:28 - 16:33I sometimes get these
kind of somewhat blank looks. -
16:33 - 16:37When I used to tell people that I was
helping to improve economic performance, -
16:37 - 16:40I would get more nods of understanding.
-
16:40 - 16:41And I get it.
-
16:41 - 16:47The economy is really well measured.
People are used to hearing about it. -
16:48 - 16:53By contrast, human rights have been
under-reported, under-measured -
16:53 - 16:56and overlooked for too long.
-
16:57 - 16:58Let’s change that.
-
17:00 - 17:03Shedding a light on human rights
-
17:03 - 17:07and bringing about a massive change
in the way our world works -
17:07 - 17:10is a huge global collaborative challenge,
-
17:10 - 17:12and you can help.
-
17:12 - 17:15We have started by shedding
a light on your country. -
17:15 - 17:18What does it reveal that you can act on?
-
17:20 - 17:22What will you demand of your leaders?
-
17:22 - 17:25What other countries can inspire yours
-
17:25 - 17:28to better and bolder respect
for human rights? -
17:29 - 17:35What if world’s leaders summoned
their advisors and demanded answers? -
17:35 - 17:39What if they said not just, ‘Tell me how
to improve our economic performance!’, -
17:39 - 17:44but, ‘Tell me how to improve
our human rights performance'? -
17:47 - 17:50Numbers are not as sexy as stories.
-
17:50 - 17:52They don’t pull on the heartstrings
-
17:52 - 17:54in the same way.
-
17:54 - 18:00But each one helps to light up our world,
showing us the way ahead. -
18:01 - 18:05Numbers help us figure out
what needs to change, and how. -
18:06 - 18:10Let’s build a world
where countries are competing, -
18:10 - 18:14not just in sport and to see
who can be the richest, -
18:14 - 18:17but to see who can treat
their people the best. -
18:19 - 18:21Let’s measure what we treasure.
-
18:22 - 18:23Thank you.
-
18:23 - 18:26(Applause)
- Title:
- Let's measure what we treasure: human rights | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington
- Description:
-
Anne-Marie is a former OECD economist with a passion for helping to bring about systemic change. She believes that having good metrics for tracking the human rights performance of countries is a prerequisite for the collective action that is needed to transform our world for the better. She is co-founder and development lead for the Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI), based at Motu Research, a not-for-profit research institute based in Wellington. Anne-Marie is an Edmund Hillary Fellow, and has degrees in Psychology and Economics from the University of Otago and a Masters of Public Affairs from Princeton University.
This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TEDxTalks
- Duration:
- 18:43
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington | ||
Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington | ||
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Leonardo Silva edited English subtitles for Let's measure what we treasure | Anne-Marie Brook | TEDxWellington |