Mining Case Law to Improve Countries’ Accountability To Universal Periodic Review

Population 2021
(Millions)

HDI Score
2019 (Max. 1)

SDG Score
2020-2021
(Max. 100)

Gender Inequality
Index Score
(Max. 1)

Internet Inclusivity
Index 2022
(100 countries)

Sources: 1. World Bank (2021), 2. UNDP (2019), 3. Sustainable Development Report (2021), 4. UNDP (2019), 5. Economist Impact (2022).

Overview

This working paper was written by Soline Aubry ¹, Hansdeep Singh ², Ivan Vlahinic ¹, Abhimanyu Ramachandran ¹, Sara Fischer ⁴, Robert O'Callaghan ¹, Natalie Shoup ³, Jaspreet Singh ², David Sangokoya ³, Gabriel Pestre ³, and Carson Martinez ³.

¹ CKM ADVISORS; ² ICAAD; ³ DATA POP ALLIANCE; ⁴ GLOBAL INSIGHT.

Please send any comments to contact@datapopalliance.org.

The United Nations (UN) Universal Periodic Review (UPR) is a process established by the Human Rights Council aiming to monitor and improve the human rights situation in each UN member state. In this study, we hypothesize that leveraging text mining and machine-learning algorithms is a viable strategy for monitoring gender discrimination in sentencing practices of Fiji’s judiciary system, which has been the object of recommendations from Norway and Belgium in the UPR cycles of 2010 and 2015, respectively.

When focusing on Violence Against Women and Girls (VAWG) in Fiji, two types of offenses are of specific interest: sexual assault (SA) and domestic violence (DV). Legal action in cases of sexual assault and domestic violence is governed by several different laws in Fiji, but studies have shown that discriminatory practices in how and when these laws are applied may in some instances undermine their effectiveness. Determining whether or not gender discrimination has a systematic impact on the outcome of these sentences requires extensive analysis of case law archives.

Our hope is that the outcomes of this study, designed as a collaborative effort between data scientists and lawyers with known expertise in the UPR process, will encourage to develop more systematic and quantitative methodologies to track the implementation of recommendations, resulting in an increased accountability of countries towards the UPR process.

Projects

Strengthening of Technical Capacities in Big Data for Sustainable Development in Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC)

This project developed with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), strengthened the technical capacities of government officials in Latin America and the Caribbean to take advantage of Big Data for sustainable development and official statistics. During the first phase of the project, through an exploratory study (see Publication below), we analyzed the current state of the infrastructure, institutional framework, regulatory framework, capacities and use cases of Big Data for the generation of public policies in 5 LAC countries: Bolivia, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala and Peru.

The second phase focused on developing four capacity building workshops between June 2022 and March 2023.

Introduction to Big Data for Sustainable Development
Big Data and Poverty Analysis for Sustainable Development
Big Data and Health Analysis for Sustainable Development
Big Data, Security and Violence for Sustainable Development

This training itinerary provided participants with a comprehensive knowledge of the key concepts, the necessary tools and the main challenges of Big Data for sustainable development, with a special emphasis on the applicability of these data sources for statistical purposes.

Support to the Inter-American Development Bank in the Identification of Technological and Big Data Tools for Current, Ongoing, and New IDB Projects

This project aimed to support the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) in preparing for the IDB Andean Summit event held on November 29, 2018, in Quito, Ecuador. A study was generated that identified new Big Data tools being developed and/or used by academic institutions, international organizations, and the public or private sector that would concretely benefit current and future IDB projects. Based on DPA’s experience, the consultancy’s goal was to contribute to the IDB’s knowledge, identification, and capabilities regarding available technological tools that provided observable material improvements at different stages of current or future projects. The study focused on IDB projects in five countries in the region: Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela.