The Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) has a global reach, yet its name rarely appears in the press. It was awarded the prestigious Rafto Prize for Human Rights in 2021. And the Washington Post mentioned HRDAG in an article on the “top contenders” for this years Nobel Peace Prize.
As part of my work with the group the past eight months, I wrote an essay to celebrate its 30th anniversary. HRDAG has just published that essay as part of its lovely storybook pictured above. To receive a copy (which is free) contact HRDAG directly.
I’ll include a brief excerpt from that essay below.
“For the past 30 years, an independent group of data scientists have been doing what many previously thought impossible: Calculating the totals of “disappeared” people from war crimes and other human rights abuses around the world. And giving those victims back their voices.
Let me explain how HRDAG does that.
Before any victim can be honored he or she has to at least to be counted. Their fate has to be determined and they have to be accounted for. HRDAG does the work that makes that possible. Once the victims are counted, the quest for justice can begin.
As a non-profit, non-partisan organization that spans the planet, from Guatemala to Syria to Chad to Kosovo and even the United States, HRDAG has analyzed data in 30 countries to date.
It all started in late 1991, when a UN mediator urged negotiators from the government of El Salvador and the rebels toward a deal to end their civil war. At the time, HRDAG founder Patrick Ball was doing database design at the Human Rights Office of the Salvadoran Lutheran Church. His analysis eventually identified the 100 worst officers in the Salvadoran military – who as a consequence of his work were forced to resign.
This was the first time that rigorous statistical techniques helped achieve some measure of justice in a human rights case and it led to many more opportunities to do so…”
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I hope you will join me in congratulating the HRDAG staff on their anniversary and consider supporting them with a donation as well.
And on this final day of the year, thank you for reading my newsletter. To each and every one of you, Happy New Year!
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