2. MONITORING AND DOCUMENTING HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS: SOME BASIC CONCEPTS 2.10 THE VARIOUS “EVENTS” ELEMENTS IN DATABASE TERMS The “events” documentation methodology involves the use of standard formats for recording information. Although a manual system of recording and retrieving information is also greatly helped by the use of standard formats, the underlying principles of the formats have been derived from the construction and operationalisation of databases. Among these is the fact that the “events” methodology deals with entities and the relationships among these entities. Entity and Link Definition An entity is a definable unit that can be viewed on its own, such as an event, an object, an individual or a group. The various attributes of an entity differentiate it from another of its kind. Thus, individuals are differentiated from each other by characteristics like age, sex, height, health, wealth, etc. Moreover, each entity has a name, or can be named, that gives it a unique identity to set it apart from the rest of its kind. Definition An attribute is a characteristic that an entity holds regardless of any context, such as the name, age, sex, address or physical appearance of a person. The two individuals shown on the right are separate entities. Each has a name that gives him or her an identity. Each is different from the other in terms of various attributes like age, sex, etc. Mr. Smith Mrs. Smith-Jones Figure 2.7 Two entities There are two basic kinds of entities in the “events” system. One of these is event, a concept already thoroughly discussed in the preceding sections. Another kind of entity is the person. Definition event. A Person is an individual or a group who is involved in or in relation to an The other terms that refer to individuals and groups - victim, perpetrator, source and intervening party - do not represent entities but roles that a person entity can have. The role of the person is determined by the act (victim role), involvement (perpetrator role), information (source role) or intervention (intervening party role) that links it to the event. It must be noted that it is very well possible that the same individual or group may have two or more roles. For instance, a victim can also be the source of information, in which case it is evident that the source is not a different person or a separate entity from the victim. No matter 18