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Measurement is a critical first step in assessing human rights violations, comparing cases, and designing appropriate international and domestic policies. But measurement is not a neutral technical exercise; in public policy, information is contested terrain. Sensitive scholars of human rights have often discussed the political difficulties of collecting and interpreting data on human rights violations.2 These analysts focus on political obstacles to the academic production of data-but political factors also influence the policy consumption of data. Debates on the level and nature of human rights violations shape international and domestic public policy. Measure-
Alison Brysk (Tue,) studied this question.