The Microthesauri is a collection of 48 sets of terminology for categorising different aspects of human rights violations in a consistent manner. They were developed to be used in conjunction with the Events Standard Formats, a methodology for recording abuses of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. They have also informed documentation initiatives using other methodologies.
The terminologies have been translated into several languages, often by volunteers, including Arabic, Bahasa Indonesia, French, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish, Turkish, and more. You can download the original PDF editions of the Microthesauri below or access individual terminology sets that HURIDOCS has made available on Google Sheets.
The Microthesauri were originally published in 2001. Since then, technology has grown more sophisticated and the demands of human rights work have evolved. However, the need for consistency when documenting violations remains as important as ever.
Today, the Microthesauri are still a useful resource and can serve as a starting point for organisations to develop their own controlled vocabularies. You may find that you only need to use a portion of the terminology in order to tailor it to your documentation context. Additionally, it might also be necessary to make updates and additions in order to fit the needs of your project.
PDF editions
PDF in English
DownloadPDF in French
DownloadPDF in Russian
DownloadPDF in Spanish
DownloadGoogle Sheets of specific terminology sets
- HURIDOCS Index Terms
- Violations Typology
- Rights Typology
- Types of Acts
- Methods of Violence
- International Instruments
- Counting Units
- Civil Status
- Education
- Occupations (ILO Categories)
- Physical Descriptors
- Religions
- Ethnic Groups
- Languages
- Geographical Terms
- Types of Source Material
- Types of Locations
- Degrees of Involvement
- Source Connection to Information
- Types of Intervention
- Types of Relationships
- Types of Chain of Events
- Relevant Characteristics
- Types of Perpetrators
- Status as Victim
- Status as Perpetrator
- Types of Responses
- Attribution
- Types of Detention
- Whereabouts and Outside Contact During Detention
- Legal Counsel
- Types of Courts
- Types of Language Used in Court
- Autopsy Results
- Death Certificate
- Statements Signed
- Medical Attention
- Intent
- Sex
- Types of Addresses
- Violation Status
- Reliability
- Monitoring Status
- Impact on the Situation
- Intervention Status
- Priority
- Compensation
- Types of Dates
- Sexual Orientation