An important problem in the fight against the abuse of human rights lies in the area of information management. The problem is not in the amount of information that comes out of the field. To the contrary, there are mountains of raw information.

The real problem lies in how this information is treated and managed. Arguments about the range and type of crimes, usually based on anecdotes and counter-anecdotes, can be manipulated and even discredited with inappropriate comparisons and invalid logic. Critics can discredit inaccurate statistics and damage the credibility of human rights claims.

The use of information management techniques and advanced statistical analysis can help to solve this problem by providing massive, objective, and undeniable evidence of human rights violations, and giving voice to the thousands of victims and witnesses who have come forward to tell their stories.

Effective human rights research and advocacy requires statistics that are based on rigorous computing methods. The statistics, generated through the application of these methods, can be defended scientifically and serve as a powerful tool in drawing attention to injustice.

HRDAG offers a solution

The Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) develops information technology solutions and statistical techniques to help human rights advocates build evidence-based arguments. HRDAG, directed by Dr. Patrick Ball, includes programmers, statisticians, project managers and data processing experts.

Originally based at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS), HRDAG has provided technical assistance to:

• Official truth commissions in Haiti, South Africa, Guatemala, Peru, Ghana, Sierra Leone, and Timor-Leste.
• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.
• Non-governmental human rights groups in Cambodia, Guatemala, and Sri Lanka.
• United Nations missions in Timor-Leste and Guatemala.

HRDAG provides assistance with computer networking, backup, and security, as well as building database and classification systems, and with advanced statistical analysis of mass atrocities.

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The Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) applies information technology solutions and statistical techniques to help human rights advocates build evidence-based arguments.