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Dear ,
Talofa lava, Kia orana, Malo e lelei, Fakaalofa lahi atu, Bula vinaka, Halo ola keta, Mauri, Fakatalofa atu, Håfa adai, Iakwe, Bonjour and Warm Pacific Greetings,
Roi here, from the HRMI Pacific Module team.
What a busy time it has been for all of us here at HRMI. This year has flown by, yet it feels as though I only just joined the team yesterday. In today's newsletter you can read about what we've been up to, both in the Pacific team and around the world.
I first joined HRMI in December of 2020. Since that time, it has been immensely rewarding to see how the many cogs of HRMI work together to produce such a wide-ranging set of data on human rights. Even more rewarding was the opportunity to be a part of the amazing team leading HRMI’s work in the Pacific.
Since the Pacific module was launched back in 2019, HRMI's measurement work has expanded to cover updated economic and social rights and civil and political rights data for 21 Pacific Island countries. This year, we are very excited to announce that for the first time ever, our Pacific module data will be made publicly available on our Rights Tracker website. This will be launched at our online Pacific data launch event on 15/16 September.
Please join us! We cannot wait to share everything with you all!
Until then, I’ll sign off with a traditional Kiribati blessing:
Te mauri, te raoi ao te tabomoa – Health, peace and prosperity be with you all!
Roi Burnett
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Pacific module launch!
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Please join us on 15/16 September for the launch of the 2021 Pacific Module!
The Pacific Module is a group of questions included in HRMI's annual human rights survey that is asked of all respondents for Pacific countries. It includes questions about the climate crisis, cultural rights, indigenous sovereignty, indigenous land rights, and violence in the community against vulnerable groups.
Our Pacific data team will be hosting a 90-minute webinar, packed with new insights from this year's quantitative and qualitative research.
Register here to join us at the following times:
- 8am Thursday 16 September for Melbourne/Papua New Guinea/Northern Mariana Islands
- 9am Thursday 16 September for Vanuatu/Solomon Islands/New Caledonia
- 10am Thursday 16 September for Tarawa/New Zealand/Fiji
- 11am Thursday 16 September for Samoa/Tonga/Tuvalu/Niue
- 12 noon Wednesday 15 September for Cook Islands/Hawai'i/Mā'ohi Nui/French Polynesia
- 6pm Wednesday 15 September for New York
- 11pm Wednesday 15 September for London
Register now to join the webinar, where you'll also hear more announcements on what's next for the Pacific data team. All welcome - please invite your friends and colleagues!
Pictured above: HRMI's Pacific Data team: Dr Sam Manuela, Seuta'afili Dr Patrick Thomsen, and Roi Burnett, all based at the University of Auckland in New Zealand. |
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Take a video tour of our Rights Tracker
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Are you interested in our human rights data, but haven't had a chance to dig into it yet?
Our Strategy and Communication Lead Thalia Kehoe Rowden has recorded a friendly new video tour of the Rights Tracker, ideal for people who want some help navigating the data for the first time.
See the tour below (if it displays in your email) or here on our YouTube channel, and please share it around with colleagues.
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HRMI in the news
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We continue to be encouraged to see media and others use our data.
Some highlights from the last month:
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Racial justice, indigenous people, and human rights in the United States
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Last month HRMI co-founder K Chad Clay and Wellington team member Thalia Kehoe Rowden were invited to join Joshua Cooper from the University of Hawai'i on his human rights show, Cooper UNion.
You can see their fast-paced half-hour conversation on racial justice, violations against indigenous people, and the United States' human rights landscape on YouTube if it doesn't appear in your browser below:
Watch out later in the year for when Joshua will interview more team members on other insights from our data. |
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New partnership with the University of the South Pacific...
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Throughout 2021 our remote internship programme has grown and thrived, with over 100 students and graduates joining the HRMI team for 12 weeks at a time, and many of them staying on to contribute in the wider HRMI team.
In an exciting development, we have now formed a partnership with the University of the South Pacific to fund scholarships for a group of young Pacific leaders to join the internship programme.
Ms Ronna Lee from USP-Samoa is mentoring an initial group of nine students from Samoa and Papua New Guinea, who are working on communicating HRMI data in Pacific contexts, among other things.
These scholarships are part of HRMI's work in the Pacific, funded by the New Zealand Aid Programme of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. |
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...and another with the University of Georgia
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Earlier this year we also expanded our partnership with the University of Georgia, where many of our civil and political rights researchers are based.
Each year UGA funds excellent students to undertake external internships. We have gone from being an in-person site for these interns, who have in the past travelled to work with our Wellington team, to hosting several senior students in our remote internship programme.
We are delighted to welcome our second intake of UGA remote interns this week.
If you know a university or student looking for internship opportunities, please put them in touch with Thalia: thalia.kehoerowden@motu.org.nz . More information is available on our website. |
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Q + A with Anne-Marie Brook
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One of our key funders, the Open Society Foundations, recently interviewed HRMI co-founder Anne-Marie Brook for this Q + A article.
Here's an extract:
"Our vision is a world where countries are competing to see who can treat people the best. Leaders and other decision-makers already have lots of statistics on things like GDP growth. In producing the Rights Tracker we want to make sure they also have robust data on how countries are treating people."
Read the full interview here. |
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Please welcome Anna and Allyssa!
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Anna Churton - Development Lead
A new grant has allowed the Aotearoa New Zealand HRMI team to expand and welcome Anna Churton as our new Development Lead, working to build partnerships and sustainable funding for our work.
Allyssa Verner-Pula - Research Assistant, Pacific Data team
We are very pleased to welcome Allyssa Verner-Pula as research assistant for the Pacific Data team. Allyssa is a student at the University of Auckland.
You can read more about Anna and Allyssa on our team page. We are thrilled to have them both join the team. |
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New working papers on Pacific human rights data
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In news for human rights research specialists, HRMI researchers have just published two new Motu working papers about our economic and social rights measurement work in the Pacific region.
Monitoring Economic and Social Rights in the Pacific
This paper looks at economic and social rights enjoyment in Pacific countries, i.e., to what extent are people able to enjoy their rights to education, food, health, housing and work. The scores show there are opportunities to substantially improve economic and social right enjoyment in the Pacific, even without per capita income growth.
Read the full working paper.
Finding the Gaps: Monitoring Economic and Social Rights in the Pacific
HRMI's economic and social rights measurement methodology uses Purchasing Power Parity (PPP$) per capita Gross Domestic Product (GDP) data to calculate what a country should be able to achieve for its people in the areas of education, food, health, housing and work.
In this paper, the authors find the lack of PPP$ data is a critical gap, meaning HRMI cannot produce scores for nine Pacific countries.
Read the full working paper. |
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Please keep in touch!
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Thanks for your interest in HRMI. You are also most welcome to follow us on Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Facebook to keep up to date in between newsletters.
Please also feel free to contact us directly with feedback, ideas, and requests. We're here to help. |
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Human Rights Measurement Initiative
Motu Economic and Public Policy Research
Level 1, 97 Cuba St
PO Box 24390
Wellington
New Zealand
Website: Click here
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