Mary Robinson
6 October 2009
column
With the publication of the Ibrahim Index of African Governance this week, we see yet again the challenges we face in trying to gain an accurate picture of governance across the continent. In the areas of political participation and human rights, for instance, it is much easier to assess and measure political participation than human rights. And this measurement is critically important to improving the lives of people across Africa.
This difficulty in assessing the situation on the ground is rooted in part in the way the international human rights system has developed over the past 60 years. The numbers of institutions, organisations and bodies that aim to protect and promote human rights have not as yet been able to create a system that measures outcomes in 53 African countries. And we strongly believe it is these outcomes that matter.
This is one of the issues that the Ibrahim Index aims to address. By focusing on outputs, the index takes a hard look at the goods and services provided to people. We look far more broadly at the performance of governments than is usual. We draw together data on economic opportunity as well as political rights, personal security as well as transparency. We understand that good governance is about more than just holding elections. It is what you do when you are in office that counts.
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Ultimately, this work is about providing tools to citizens and civil societies to hold their governments to account. That is the value of the Ibrahim Index; it puts the power of information directly into the hands of the people who can hold their governments to account. And it stimulates demand for more information and data to further empower civil society.
We are not alone. The central focus of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the Covenants, Conventions, Declarations and other Instruments that flowed from it has been on providing a structure of norms and standards that are meant to be implemented and assessed.
However this assessment is mostly done through self-reporting mechanisms, meaning countries that are in breach of human rights objectives or limiting participation in political life are the very ones providing data to be judged by. Civil society groups in countries are increasingly playing a reporting role but this does not cover everything.
Ultimately, despite these monitoring and scrutiny provisions the actual measurement of performance is ad hoc, often fairly superficial and subject to protracted delays. There is no real sense of what the experience for people actually is. Reports to UN bodies often say too little about whether women, for instance, are actually able to vote, address inequalities or express themselves freely.
The consequence is that instead of a debate focused on results, we find one that is centred on inputs. This is not limited to the field of human rights. We find heated discussions over how much the international community has invested in food aid, debt forgiveness or health initiatives. We note the churning of the political calendar without paying enough attention to the quality of political participation in these events.
Tools like the Ibrahim Index aim to bridge this gap and find tangible ways to measure rights, participation, economics and social protection, particularly in relation to how these issues impact on people's lives. Not only that, but the index is exerting a healthy pressure on the UN and others to develop more practical ways to compare the human rights record of the 53 African countries.
What an innovative way to enhance protection and promotion of human rights in African countries!
Mary Robinson is former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and a Board Member of the Mo Ibrahim Foundation
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This report is a treasure to the assesment of Africa. But,It also lacks the in-depth analysis of the leaders that preside over our nations. One such missing ingredient is, the lack of focus on the level of education achieved by those who govern us. The more they are educated, the better their governance. A
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