The Dark Side of Numbers: The Role of Population Data Systems in Human Rights Abuses

Possible Factors Leading to Misuses or Attempted Misuses

It is possible to hypothesize a number of motivations leading to the misuse or attempted misuse of a population data system that might contribute to a major human rights abuse. Such a list of motivations might include ideology, including racism; patriotism; obedience or fear; bureaucratic opportunism; or professional zeal. From the twentieth-century cases studied so far (which are not necessarily representative of all cases), ideology, patriotism, and fear seemed less decisive in determining complicity than bureaucratic opportunism and professional zeal. This finding is similar to the observation by David, Fleischhacker, and Hohn (1988: 89) that the willingness of German medical scientists, "even if they did not fully embrace Nazi racism," to teach anti-Semitic racial hygiene could be attributed to the fact that they "welcomed the opportunity of translating their theoretical research into government policy."

Bureaucratic opportunism and professional zeal certainly seemed paramount in the proposals of Buhle and Carmille in France (Remond, 1996) and Jahn in occupied Norway (Sobye, 1998) during World War II, the actions of Lentz in the Netherlands and Richard Korherr (Himmler's statistical specialist) in Germany in furthering the Holocaust (Seltzer, 1998), and the efforts of Capt and Dedrick in their proactive assistance in 1941 and 1942 in the internment of Japanese Americans (Seltzer and Anderson, 2000). (By contrast, ideology was certainly involved in Walker's decisions about the coverage of Indians.) Capt, Carmille, and Jahn were well-regarded heads of national statistical agencies, each making many positive contributions to the development of their country's statistical services over their careers. Similarly, Dedrick (in statistical methods and organization), Korherr (in demographic statistics), and Lentz (in population registration) were each highly regarded senior technicians with extensive experience and responsibilities in their respective fields. While the grouping of Capt, Carmille, Dedrick,Jahn, Korherr, and Lentz for the purposes of studying motivation is analytically justified, there are important differences among them in terms of the level of human rights abuse with which their actions or proposals may be linked.

Potential Safeguards: An Introduction

A variety of safeguards are available that may help to deter the use of population data systems in assisting in the planning or carrying out of major human rights abuses. While in most circumstances few of these safeguards are absolute, they each can help to discourage a contemplated misuse by raising the cost of such a misuse, either in financial or political terms. Moreover, even if one or more safeguards successfully discourages the use of a population data system in assisting in a human rights abuse, the underlying human rights abuse may still take place. However, without the assistance of the data sought, the efficiency of the perpetrators is likely to be reduced. As a result, lives may be saved and the extent and duration of other harms reduced. (On the other hand, most, but not all, safeguards have the unfortunate side effect of also reducing the analytical usefulness of the resulting data.) Five different safeguards may be distinguished.