Paper short abstract:

This paper reflects on the potential and challenges of the emergent use of indicators within a human rights and trade context, critically analysing two recent initiatives within international human rights law that prominently rely on indicators in order to conceptualise and monitor human rights.

Paper long abstract:

This paper aims to reflect on potential implications for the understanding of human rights, and states' obligations to respect, protect and fulfil them, arising from the rise to prominence in recent years of the use of indicators and more recently, human rights impact assessments to define, identify, assess and monitor the status of human rights.

It draws from critical theory and ethnography to highlight ways in which the use of numbers, with their aura of objectivity, truth and value neutrality can conceal both their political and theoretical origins, as well as the subtle yet profound shifts in governance implied by their use. Though there is a pressing need to enumerate the content of rights and monitor their realisation, this paper argues that this form of 'knowledge technology' may well have profound implications for how human rights infringements and violations are conceived, monitored and ultimately remedied in the future, and especially so in the context of globalisation where both domestic and international law are deeply challenged to effectively address human rights concerns. Within the realm of international human rights law, recent indicator-like developments have attempted to address the human rights impacts of trade. These offer a revealing insight into the potential and the challenges of this type of initiative and highlight the necessity for a cautious and reflective approach in order to minimise unexpected and unwelcome consequences for the conception, comprehension and progressive realisation of human rights within a trade context.