Download the proceedings of Human Rights Impact: General Issues and Sectoral Perspectives

On May 11 and 12, 2010, ISHR hosted Human Rights Impact: General Issues and Sectoral Perspectives, a symposium which convened a broad spectrum of participants — academics, policy-makers, advocates, and donors — to examine the ways in which the impact of human rights policies and programs is defined and assessed. Sessions focused on several sectors — development (in particular in a rights-based perspective), women's rights, international courts, and press freedom — and on two cross-cutting themes — the measurement of "human rights" and the development of appropriate indicators, and the ethical issues that arise when impact analyses are structured into human rights interventions. Proceedings are available for download as a PDF.

The symposium's concept note, agenda, and participant list are also online, as are a selection of photographs.

ISHR has also created a "live" bibliography that aims to map the study of human rights impact. We see this as a group effort and a service to the scholarly and advocacy community. Toward this end ISHR welcomes suggestions of additional materials. Please email your suggestions to with “Human Rights Impact Research” in the subject line. Thank you.