The Human Rights Measurement Initiative (HRMI) has recently released its 2021 Rights Tracker scores, measuring countries' human rights performance. HRMI team members Anne-Marie Brook, Roi Burnett, and Thalia Kehoe Rowden will join us to discuss scores for Pacific countries, and upcoming further research on issues important to Pacific communities.
Anne-Marie Brook is a former economist with a passion for helping to bring about systemic change. Prior to making the jump into human rights, as co-founder of HRMI, Anne-Marie worked as a senior economist for the OECD and the New Zealand public sector. She is an Edmund Hillary Fellow and has degrees in Psychology and Economics from the University of Otago and an MPA in Economics from the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, which she attended on a Fulbright Scholarship.
Roi Burnett is of I-Kiribati and European descent. She is passionate about development and human rights issues in the Pacific region. After completing a BA (Hons) in Geography and Politics at the University of Otago, Roi spent two years volunteering with local NGOs in Tarawa, Kiribati. Influenced by her time volunteering she is now completing a Master's of Development Studies at the University of Auckland, looking into grassroots organisations as drivers of change in Kiribati. She is a strong advocate for centering indigenous Pacific women voices in development.
Thalia is a writer, editor and activist, and HRMI's Strategy and Communication Lead. She has a BA in Linguistics and an LLB(Hons) from Victoria University of Wellington, where she had a special focus on international human rights law. After graduating in Applied Theology from Carey Baptist College in Auckland, she worked as a Baptist minister in New Plymouth, New Zealand, and then with Partners Relief & Development in South East Asia.
The 2021 scores, available at RightsTracker.org, show that many Pacific countries are leading the world in human rights performance. There remain challenges in making sure all groups of people are able to thrive, and there are some countries that need to make significant human rights progress.