The purpose of this list is to classify human rights violations. It examines violations largely in relation to state obligations, but also considers non-state involvement (1).

The classifications are very general and are most suitable for analysis, such as in identifying patterns of violations. Further refinement by users is possible. The present list is most useful for organisations whose mandates cover a wide range of issues. Centres which focus on certain types of human rights violations may prefer to select and use only those categories which are of interest to them, and further refine these.

This list has been developed by HURIDOCS. It reflects the concepts that were considered to be useful by the authors of this publication as well as by others who participated in the revision of the HURIDOCS Events Standard Formats.

The terminstance has been used below in order to refer to an individual case that concerns one individual victim, as contrasted to a violation that affects a whole class or group. For example, the violationRestriction on dressing could be recorded as an act affecting all women in a society. In addition, one may record a specific instance (one woman actually being restricted).

This list is a hierarchical list with three levels, as described in Rule No. 3 in theIntroduction.

This Micro-thesaurus is used for field 152 Violation Index of the Event format.

CODE
 TERM
 
  01
 Acts involving non-respect of personal integrity and/or individual and group liberties
 
01 01
 Violent or coercive acts by state agents
 
01 02
 Violent or coercive acts by non-state agents
 
01 03
 Coercive acts which are not necessarily violations
 
01 04
 Violent acts which are likely to be violations but where the perpetrators are unclear
 
01 05
 Acts which are likely to be violations but which are not direct acts of violence or coercion, or could not yet be established as such, and which only point to general responsibility
 
01 06
 Acts which put in place laws or policies that violate personal integrity or that negate certain liberties
 
01 07
 Acts which remove or suspend laws or policies that guarantee personal integrity and/or individual and group liberties, or which reduce the extent of their enjoyment
 
01 08
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of situations of non-respect of personal integrity and/or individual/group liberties
 
01 08 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies to protect individuals or groups from violent or coercive actions
 
01 08 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies in protecting individuals or groups menaced by violent or coercive actions
 

02
 Acts and instances involving exploitation of individuals or groups
 
02 01
 Acts which put in place laws or policies that subject individuals or groups to exploitation
 
02 02
 Acts which remove, reduce the effectiveness of, or suspend laws or policies meant to provide protection to individuals or groups against exploitation
 
02 03
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of exploitative situations
 
02 03 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies to protect individuals or groups against exploitation
 
02 03 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies in protection individuals and groups from exploitation
 
02 09
 Instances of exploitation
 
03
 Acts and instances involving non-respect of rights of vulnerable groups (those not covered by the preceding categories)
 
03 01
 Acts which put in place laws or policies which infringe upon the rights of vulnerable groups
 
03 02
 Acts which remove, reduce the effectiveness of, or suspend laws or policies meant to provide protection to vulnerable groups
 
03 03
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of situations of non-respect of rights of vulnerable groups
 
03 03 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies to protect vulnerable groups
 
03 03 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies in protecting vulnerable groups
 
03 09
 Instances of infringement upon the rights of vulnerable groups
 
04
 Acts and instances involving non-respect of rights through other forms of discrimination (those not covered by preceding categories)
 
04 01
 Acts which put in place laws or policies which engender other forms of discrimination
 
04 02
 Acts which remove, reduce the effectiveness of, or suspend laws or policies meant to provide protection against other forms of discrimination
 
04 03
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of situations of non-respect of rights through other forms of discrimination
 
04 03 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies against other forms of discrimination
 
04 03 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies in protection against other forms of discrimination
 
04 09
 Instances of violations through other forms of discrimination
 
05
 Acts and instances involving non-respect of rights in some other ways
 
05 01
 Acts which put in place laws or policies which infringe upon rights in some other ways
 
05 02
 Acts which remove, reduce the effectiveness of, or suspend laws or policies meant to provide protection against infringement of rights in some other ways
 
05 03
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of situations of non-respect of rights in some other ways
 
05 03 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies to provide protection against infringement of rights in some other ways
 
05 03 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies in protection against infringement of rights in some other ways
 
05 09
 Instances of infringement upon rights in some other ways
 
06
 Acts and instances involving non-fulfilment of certain rights
 
06 01
 Acts which remove or suspend laws or policies that are meant to fulfil certain rights, or which reduce their enjoyment
 
06 02
 Acts of omission allowing the continuation of situations of non-fulfilment of certain rights
 
06 02 01
 Acts of omission through failure to promulgate laws or policies to fulfil certain rights
 
06 02 02
 Acts of omission through failure to enforce laws or put into effect policies to fulfil certain rights
 
06 09
 Instances of violations in terms of unfulfilled rights
 
90
 Other
 
99
 Unknown
 

(1) See Dueck, Judith, Manuel Guzman and Bert Verstappen "2.3 How Human Rights Are Violated." HURIDOCS Events Standard Formats - A Tool for Documenting Human Rights Violations.Versoix: HURIDOCS, 2001. 6-7.