Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom

74 • Towards a Worldwide Index of Human Freedom
Source The primary source of information about human rights practices is
obtained from a careful reading of the annual United States Department
of State’s Country Reports on Human Rights Practices. In addition,
coders of this index also use a second source, Amnesty International’s
Annual Report. If there are discrepancies between the two sources,
coders are instructed to treat the Amnesty International evaluation as
authoritative.
Score 0 indicates that disappearances have occurred frequently in a given year;
1 indicates that disappearances occasionally occurred; and
2 indicates that disappearances did not occur in a given year.
Pro’s 195 countries; annually since 1981
Con’s —
Battle-related deaths
by Uppsala Conflict Data Program
Description Counted as battle-related deaths is armed conflict behavior between
warring parties in a conflict dyad, be it state-based or non-state-based.
In state-based conflicts the violence must be directly related to the
incompatibility, i.e., carried out with the purpose of realizing the
goal of the incompatibility and result in deaths. In non-state-based
conflicts the violence does not have to be related to an incompatibility
(since incompatibilities are not used in such conflicts), but has
to take place between warring parties and result in deaths. Typically,
battle-related deaths occur in what can be described as “normal” warfare
involving the armed forces of the warring parties. This includes
traditional battlefield fighting, guerrilla activities (e.g., hit-and-run
attacks or ambushes) and all kinds of bombardments of military units,
cities and villages, etc. The targets are usually the military itself and
its installations, or state institutions and state representatives, but
there is often substantial collateral damage in the form of civilians
killed in crossfire, indiscriminate bombings, etc. All deaths—military
as well as civilian—incurred in such situations, are counted as battlerelated
deaths.
Source The general rule for counting battle-related deaths is moderation. All
battle-related deaths are based on each coder’s analysis of the particular
conflict. Each battle-related death has to be verified in one way or
another. All figures are disaggregated as much as possible. All figures
that are not trustworthy are disregarded as much as possible in the
coding process. Sometimes there are situations when there is lack of
information on disaggregated battle-related deaths. When this occurs,
the coder may rely on sources that provide already calculated figures
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