Felt discriminated against or harassed the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
Information
Full name
Population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
Short name
Felt discriminated against or harassed the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law
Code
DiscriminateHarassHRL12M
Definition
This series is defined as the proportion of the population (adults) who self-report that they personally experienced discrimination or harassment during the last 12 months based on ground(s) prohibited by international human rights law (IHRL).
IHRL refers to the body of international legal instruments aiming to promote and protect human rights, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and subsequent international human rights treaties adopted by the United Nations (UN).
Discrimination is any distinction, exclusion, restriction or preference or other differential treatment that is directly or indirectly based on prohibited grounds of discrimination, and which has the intention or effect of nullifying or impairing the recognition, enjoyment or exercise, on an equal footing, of human rights and fundamental freedoms in the political, economic, social, cultural or any other field of public life.
Harassment is a form of discrimination when it is also based on prohibited grounds of discrimination. Harassment may take the form of words, gestures or actions, which tend to annoy, alarm, abuse, demean, intimidate, belittle, humiliate or embarrass another or which create an intimidating, hostile or offensive environment. While generally involving a pattern of behaviours, harassment can take the form of a single incident.
IHRL provides lists of the prohibited grounds of discrimination. The inclusion of “other status” in these lists indicate that they are not exhaustive and that other grounds may be recognized by international human rights mechanisms. A review of the international human rights normative framework helps identify a list of grounds that includes race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national origin, social origin, property, birth status, disability, age, nationality, marital and family status, sexual orientation, gender identity, health status, place of residence, economic and social situation, pregnancy, indigenous status, afro-descent and other status. In practice, it will be difficult to include all potentially relevant grounds of discrimination in household survey questions. For this reason, it is recommended that data collectors identify contextually relevant and feasible lists of grounds, drawing on the illustrative list and formulation of prohibited grounds of discrimination outlined in the methodology section below, and add an “other” category to reflect other grounds that may not have been listed explicitly.
Source: United Nations Statistics Division. (2024). Metadata for Sustainable Development Goal indicator 10.3.1. https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/metadata/files/Metadata-10-03-01.pdf (Accessed 29 July 2026).
Rationale
The pledge to leave no-one behind and eliminate discrimination is at the centre of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The elimination of discrimination is also enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the core international human rights treaties. The purpose of this series is to measure a prevalence of discrimination based on the personal experience reported by individuals. It is considered an outcome indicator (see HR/PUB/12/5) helping to measure the effectiveness of non-discriminatory laws, policy and practices for the concerned population groups.
Method of computation
Numerator: Number of survey respondents who report experience of any form of discrimination or harassment during the last 12 months in the relevant population group.
Denominator: Total number of survey respondents in the relevant population group.
The value is calculated as numerator divided by denominator, multiplied by 100.
Comparability
International definition and standards
Relationships
| Framework | Indicator | Comparability |
|---|---|---|
| Sustainible Development Goals Indicators | Proportion of population reporting having personally felt discriminated against or harassed in the previous 12 months on the basis of a ground of discrimination prohibited under international human rights law | Comparable |
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Limitations
The series is not measuring a general perception of respondents on the overall prevalence of discrimination in a country. It is based on personal experience self-reported by individual respondents. The indicator does not provide a legal determination of any alleged or proven cases of discrimination. The series may not capture cases that respondents are not aware of or willing to disclose.
Quality assurance
Quality assurance follows the practices of the standardised survey series or data source from which the data is collected.
Data sources
Data sources include household surveys such as Multiple Indicator Cluster Surveys, Forced Displacement Surveys, victimisation surveys and other surveys where the questionnaire follows a comparable SDG discrimination and harassment module and population coverage is documented.
Cameroon: Forced Displacement Survey - 2024
UNHCR_CMR_2024_FDS
2024
Cameroon
Probability survey
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Gov't. of Cameroon
Report is forthcoming.
Pakistan: Forced displacement survey (FDS) - 2024
UNHCR_PAK_2024_FDS
2025
Pakistan
Probability survey
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
Zambia: Forced Displacement Survey - 2025
UNHCR_ZMB_2025_FDS
2025
Probability survey
The strata on others of concern (OOC) are former refugeesfrom Angola and Rwanda who have lost their refugee protections, however, remain in Zambia and are at risk of statelessness.