As a part of their ongoing effort to monitor, promote and protect the implementation of the CRPD, the Danish Institute for Human Rights introduces ten carefully selected indicators to measure and monitor the progress of the implementation of the CRPD.

”We are extremely pleased that we now have an effective tool to measure progress with the implementation of the convention, and hopefully this will inspire the government to speed things up”, says Department Director, Maria Ventegodt Liisberg.

The name ‘Gold Indicators’ is chosen since each indicator is carefully selected and formulated, following a qualifying and dialogue-based procedure, thus representing a national ‘gold standard’ for measuring the progress of the implementation of the CRPD. The main purpose of the indicators is to generate change and stimulate action because we believe that statistical indicators have the potential to inspire concrete policy-making.

Comparing the situation of persons with and without disabilities

The Gold Indicators make it possible to compare the situation of persons with disabilities to that of persons without disabilities. The ten thematic areas covered by the Gold Indicators have been chosen with inspiration in the founding principles of the CRPD described in Article 3 of the convention. They include equality and non-discrimination, liberty and personal integrity, health, education and political participation.

It is the Institute’s hope that the Gold Indicators will become a powerful tool for monitoring and promoting the implementation of the CRPD and inspire other national human rights institutions, governments, disability organisations as well as international organisations.

An inclusive process

The Gold Indicators were developed through an inclusive process with multiple national disability organisations, academic researchers, relevant Danish ministries, Statistics Denmark and the Danish National Centre for Social Research. This has been done to ensure that the indicators cover essential areas within CRPD and are the best-suited to measure the implementation of the convention in Denmark.

The inclusion of relevant stakeholders promotes the idea that that the Gold Indicators are the best-suited indicators to measure and monitor the process of the implementation of the CRPD nationally. Moreover, stakeholder participation enhances the probability that the indicators will be used to oversee the implementation process in a national context.

What is the CRPD?

The purpose of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) is to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights and fundamental freedoms by all persons with disabilities.

This means that society needs to be accessible so that persons with disabilities are able to participate in daily life.

Denmark joined the CRPD in 2009, and since 2011 the Danish Institute for Human Rights has been appointed as the independent mechanism for monitoring, promoting, and protecting the implementation of the CRPD in Denmark in accordance with Article 33(2) of the CRPD.

Further Information

Report on the Gold Indicators

Danish Institute for Human Rights work on Gold Indicators