PROTECTING MINORITY RIGHTS – A Practical Guide to Developing Comprehensive Anti-Discrimination Legislation regularly assess whether the measures chosen are effective in practice”, noting that such “monitoring should assess both the steps taken and the results achieved in the elimination of discrimination”.836 The Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities establishes an explicit obligation to collect data, stipulating, under article 31, that States commit to “collect appropriate information, including statistical and research data, to enable them to formulate and implement policies to give effect to the … Convention”. It goes on to establish that this information should be disaggregated and that it should be used to “help assess the implementation of States Parties’ obligations under the … Convention and to identify and address the barriers faced by persons with disabilities in exercising their rights”. In its general recommendation No. 6 (2018), the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities provided direction on the implementation of this obligation, noting that data “must be disaggregated on the basis of disability and of intersectional categories” and “provide information on all forms of discrimination”. It noted that the data to be collected should be “broad” and that the design, collection and analysis of data should be participatory.837 At a more practical level, OHCHR, in collaboration with a number of States, experts, United Nations entities, development actors and non-governmental organizations, and with support from the European Union, has developed the Bridging the Gap project, which has developed a set of indicators for measuring implementation of the Convention.838 Data gathered should be made public in forms readily accessible to the general public to inform both policymaking and the wider discussions on equality, non-discrimination, other human rights, and the effectiveness of measures to respect, protect and fulfil these rights.839 However, data publication should not heighten stigma or pose risks to people.840 D. Consultation, engagement and participation Each of the treaty bodies that has engaged with States’ obligations to implement the right to non-discrimination has emphasized the importance of consultation, engagement and participation. The duty to ensure equal participation relates directly to the empowerment of rights holders. The International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, under article 2 (1) (e), for instance, obliges States parties to “encourage, where appropriate, integrationist multiracial organizations and movements and other means of eliminating barriers between races, and to discourage anything which tends to strengthen racial division”. Article 7 of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women similarly requires States to “take all appropriate measures to eliminate discrimination against women in the political and public life of the country and, in particular, shall ensure to women, on equal terms with men, the right … to participate in non-governmental organizations and associations concerned with the public and political life of the country”. In its general comments, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 120 836 Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comment No. 20 (2009), paras. 36 and 41. 837 Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, general comment No. 6 (2018), para. 71. 838 See OHCHR, “Human rights indicators on the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities” and “Data sources guidance” in Promoting the Rights of Persons with Disabilities through the Sustainable Development Goals: A Resource Package (advance version, 2021, available at www.ohchr.org/en/disabilities/sdg-crpd-resource-package; publication forthcoming in 2023). 839 “Capacities and partnerships should be developed to enable States to meet their obligation to collect and publish data disaggregated by grounds of discrimination recognized in international human rights law. … Where possible, data should be published in a format that permits identification and analysis of multiple and intersecting disparities and discrimination. Individuals may experience discrimination and inequality along multiple axes (for example, gender and disability). Analysing data at the subgroup level allows for understanding of multiple and intersecting inequalities. Qualitative indicators and contextual information, including the legal, institutional or cultural status of affected populations, are also essential to enhance understanding and contextualization of data collected within a [human rights-based approach to data].” See OHCHR, “A human rights-based approach to data: leaving no one behind in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” (Geneva, 2018), pp. 7–8. Available at www.ohchr.org/Documents/Issues/HRIndicators/GuidanceNoteonApproachtoData.pdf. 840 “In some cases, it may be necessary for logistical, political or other reasons to use demographic characteristics to identify a particular population. For example, if a particular ethnic minority is not recognised by the State but is understood to reside exclusively in one location. In this case, data about an individual’s place of residence may be thought to denote, ipso facto, their ethnicity. Where data is used in this way to identify particular groups, data collectors should ensure that their handling and publishing of that data does not imply self-identification where disclosure of personal information relating to ethnic identity has not occurred. Data should be accurately described to make clear that the parameters established for a particular group have been set according to place of residence, in this example, and not the self-identification of group members. … Data should not be published or publicly accessible in a manner that permits identification of individual data subjects, either directly or indirectly. Access to information must be balanced with the rights to privacy and data protection.” Ibid., pp. 13–19, at pp. 13 and 16.