The OPERA Framework Examine policy content and implementation Analyze policy processes Identify the goods and services needed to give effect to the right. AAAAQ criteria Participation, Transparency, Accountability, Right to a remedy Measure the availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of these goods and services (e.g. assessing quantitative and qualitative data, community score cards). Analyze relevant national laws and policies (e.g. on access to information, local participation, complaints mechanisms etc.). Collect feedback on the extent to which those principles are applied in practice (e.g. through interviews or other qualitative methods and quantitative indicators if available). As outlined above, the obligation of conduct requires that states take ‘action reasonably calculated to realize the enjoyment of a particular right’, including legislative, judicial, administrative, financial, budgetary, fiscal, educational, social and other measures. This step therefore starts by identifying the human rights commitments made by the state at the domestic, regional and international levels and evaluating the legal framework that gives effect to them. It then analyzes the way public policies and programs translate these commitments into the goods and services needed to realize the right(s) under review. Relevant systems, goods and services are judged against the AAAAQ criteria. The process of adopting and implementing policies and programs is also judged against the principles of participation, non-discrimination, accountability, and transparency. In this step, qualitative policy analysis plays a particularly important role in complementing quantitative indicators. a) Identifying legal and policy commitments This step first identifies the regional and international human rights commitments the state has agreed to adhere to. For example, it examines whether the state in question has signed or ratified relevant international covenants or treaties, and if there have been any reservations to these. International agreements, declarations, outcome documents of political summits, programs of action, etc. may also be taken into consideration. Although these are not legally binding, they may elaborate on the content of particular rights, such as the Cairo Declaration on Population and Development, which articulates reproductive health-related rights. Furthermore, by signing on to such agreements, states may pledge to achieve specific goals or targets, providing further evidence of the commitment of a state to the right in question. The second question to consider is whether these international commitments have been internalized in the domestic legal order in ways that meet the object and purpose of these commitments, whether or not their specific terms are invoked. As at the international level, political campaign promises, statements or speeches made by leaders may also contain specific commitments related to the right(s) under review. It is also important to identify any laws that run contrary to or inhibit the state in fulfilling its human rights obligations. In states where governance structures have been decentralized, examining the consistency of sub-national laws or interpretations of national laws with the human rights obligations made at the national level will also be relevant. These questions on legal and political commitments broadly reflect the ‘structural indicators’ in the OHCHR framework. Focusing on the adoption of legal instruments and the existence of institutional mechanisms conducive to realizing the right(s) under review, 18

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