III. >> M  ethodological Approaches to Human Rights Indicators >> Sources and data-generating mechanisms Administrative data Administrative data refer to information generated and collected by line ministries and the regulatory authorities of the Government. They refer to civil registration systems, national population registers and other administrative records systems used, for instance, in compiling vital statistics (death and birth rates) and preparing electoral rolls. Administrative data cover subjects of relevance to public development programmes, administrative and regulatory frameworks, such as coverage of child immunization programmes. Administrative statistics inform on issues related not only to economic, social and cultural rights, but also to civil and political rights, such as on the administration of justice and the rule of law (e.g., executions carried out, prison population, policing or incidence of hate crimes). It is also a key source of information for political rights, looking, for instance, at the percentage of persons entitled to vote, voter participation by age and by sex, segments of the population exercising their right to vote and to be elected (e.g., women) and data on infrastructure related to the organization of elections. Moreover, the category of administrative data encompasses all the treaties, laws and legislative documents maintained by different national and international administrative systems. Likewise, information on policies, plans of action and programmes adopted by Governments or other bodies is also part of the administrative data and is equally critical for implementing human rights. It thus constitutes an important source of information to complement events-based data. The use of standardized methodology to collect information from civil registration and administrative systems, and usually with reasonable reliability and validity, makes administrative statistics vital for bringing about greater transparency, credibility and accountability in human rights assessments (box 15).23 However, in the context of human rights assessment, in general, and monitoring undertaken by treaty bodies, in particular, it is in most instances essential to make use of information collected by NGOs and alternative sources (such as victimization surveys) to supplement administrative statistics.24 Administrative statistics cannot in themselves provide a complete assessment of a human rights situation in any given context. They may not cover all issues relevant to the realization and enjoyment of human rights. Their coverage may also be incomplete (being limited to the population segment using public services) and there may be bias in reporting, including deliberate misreporting.25 Yet, because of their relevance to human rights, including the right to information, as well as their simplicity, speed, frequency of updating and cost-effectiveness, administrative statistics constitute a critical element in undertaking human rights assessments. 23. Most available indicators from administrative data are usually of administrative and policy interest to Governments and not necessarily on issues that are relevant from a human rights perspective, such as the administration of justice or (discrimination in) access to public services and employment. Therefore, there is a need to extend and standardize the administrative data collection mechanisms in these other areas of importance to human rights. 24. Administrative data have also been used in monitoring racial profiling in policing and hate crimes. In the United States of America for instance, various administrative data, including stops made by officers, police arrest, driver’s licence, motor vehicle traffic accident, moving violations, hit rates (contraband found) from searches, have been used in assessing racial profiling in policing. The Hate Crime Statistics Act of 1990 led to the development and implementation of the National Hate Crime Data Collection Program. While the use of administrative data has facilitated the assessment of racism/intolerance in these two instances, its limitations have also been highlighted by several researches, calling for the use of auxiliary data sources, such as surveys, direct observations and events-based data, and the continued refinement of data collection and methodologies for assessment. See G. Ridgeway and J. MacDonald, “Methods for assessing racially biased policing”, in Race, Ethnicity, and Policing: New and Essential Readings, S. Rice and M. White, eds. (New York University Press, 2010) and S. Bennett, J. Nolan and N. Conti, “Defining and measuring hate crime: a potpourri of issues”, in Hate Crimes, B. Perry et al., eds. (Greenwood, 2009). 25. For further information on administrative data, see for instance Asian Development Bank, Administrative Data Sources for Compiling Millennium Development Goals and Related Indicators: A Reference Handbook on Using Data from Education, Health, and Vital Registration Systems Featuring Practices and Experiences from Selected Countries (Mandaluyong City, Philippines, 2010). Available from www.adb.org. 58 Human Rights Indicators