Measurement, Human Rights and Leisure
摘要
While much of the assessment of nation states’ performance in regard to human rights compliance is assessed in qualitative terms, some can involve quantification. This typically takes the form of human rights indicators or, in the case of leisure/culture, cultural indicators. These are mostly quantitative and therefore involve measurement. Determining just what should be measured and how it can be measured is a challenge, which is addressed in this chapter. Guidance offered by relevant UN committees and agencies is reviewed as are schemes from independent researchers. A feature of this guidance is that it almost universally fails to address the particular requirements of leisure or cultural rights. Furthermore, the practical use of indicators in the compliance assessment process is in its infancy. The chapter documents this absence of guidance for leisure/cultural-related indicators and offers suggestions to overcome this neglect. It also includes some preliminary examples of how relevant cross-national data—on leisure time and sport and cultural participation—might be assembled and used to assess leisure rights outcomes.