UN Human Rights Instruments Ontology

Abstract

This document specifies an upper-level ontology for UN Human Rights Instruments (UNHRi), encompassing 67 instruments, including treaties, conventions, declarations, and protocols. It provides a structured, machine-readable framework for modeling provisions, rights, violations, and protection mechanisms, with specific instrument provisions represented as literals. The ontology is extensible and supports semantic web applications such as reasoning and querying.

Status of This Document

This is an unofficial ontology specification for UN Human Rights Instruments, created for demonstration purposes. It is not endorsed by the United Nations, UNESCO, or the International Labour Organization.

Introduction

The UN Human Rights Instruments ontology (UNHRi) provides a generalized framework for modeling human rights documents, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and 64 other instruments listed by the UN OHCHR. It defines classes for instruments, provisions, rights, violations, and protection mechanisms, enabling interoperability and extensibility for semantic web applications.

Ontology Structure

Ontology Serialization

An example of the ontology in Turtle format, covering multiple instruments:

@prefix unhr:  .
@prefix owl:  .
@prefix rdf:  .
@prefix rdfs:  .
@prefix xsd:  .

unhr:HumanRightsInstrument a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Human Rights Instrument" ;
    rdfs:comment "A UN human rights document, e.g., UDHR, CRC, ICCPR." .

unhr:Article a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Provision" ;
    rdfs:comment "An article or clause within a human rights instrument." .

unhr:HumanRights a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Human Right" ;
    rdfs:comment "A right defined by a human rights instrument." .

unhr:ActOmission a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Violation" ;
    rdfs:comment "An act or omission contravening a human right." .

unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Protection Mechanism" ;
    rdfs:comment "A mechanism to promote or protect human rights." .

unhr:Child a owl:Class ;
    rdfs:label "Child" ;
    rdfs:comment "A person under a certain age, entitled to specific rights." .

unhr:hasInstrumentName a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    rdfs:range xsd:string ;
    rdfs:label "has instrument name" .

unhr:hasProvision a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    rdfs:range unhr:Article ;
    rdfs:label "has provision" .

unhr:hasArticleNumber a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:Article ;
    rdfs:range xsd:integer ;
    rdfs:label "has article number" .

unhr:hasContent a owl:DatatypeProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:Article ;
    rdfs:range xsd:string ;
    rdfs:label "has content" .

unhr:definesRight a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:Article ;
    rdfs:range unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:label "defines right" .

unhr:appliesTo a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:range [ a owl:Class ; owl:unionOf (unhr:Person unhr:Group unhr:Child) ] ;
    rdfs:label "applies to" .

unhr:addressesViolation a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:domain unhr:Article ;
    rdfs:range unhr:ActOmission ;
    rdfs:label "addresses violation" .

unhr:hasProtectionMechanism a owl:ObjectProperty ;
    rdfs:domain [ a owl:Class ; owl:unionOf (unhr:Article unhr:ActOmission) ] ;
    rdfs:range unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "has protection mechanism" .

unhr:UDHR a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Universal Declaration of Human Rights" .

unhr:CRC a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Convention on the Rights of the Child" .

unhr:ICCPR a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights" .

unhr:CAT a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment" .

unhr:CPPG a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide" .

unhr:VDPA a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action" .

unhr:UDHR_Article1 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 1 ;
    unhr:hasContent "All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights..." ;
    unhr:definesRight unhr:Equality ;
    unhr:addressesViolation unhr:Discrimination .

unhr:CRC_Article28 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 28 ;
    unhr:hasContent "States Parties recognize the right of the child to education..." ;
    unhr:definesRight unhr:ChildEducation ;
    unhr:addressesViolation unhr:ChildEducationFreeFromDiscrimination .

unhr:ICCPR_Article14 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 14 ;
    unhr:hasContent "All persons shall be equal before the courts and tribunals..." ;
    unhr:definesRight unhr:PublicTrial ;
    unhr:addressesViolation unhr:DueProcess .

unhr:CAT_Article4 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 4 ;
    unhr:hasContent "Each State Party shall ensure that all acts of torture are offences under its criminal law..." ;
    unhr:addressesViolation unhr:Torture ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:TortureProsecution .

unhr:CPPG_Article2 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 2 ;
    unhr:hasContent "Genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group..." ;
    unhr:addressesViolation unhr:Genocide ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:GenocideProsecution .

unhr:VDPA_SectionI_1 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 1 ;
    unhr:hasContent "The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirms the solemn commitment of all States to fulfil their obligations to promote universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights..." ;
    unhr:definesRight unhr:HumanRightsPromotion ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanismInternationalCooperation .

unhr:Equality a unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:label "Equality" ;
    unhr:appliesTo unhr:Person .

unhr:ChildEducation a unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:label "Child Education" ;
    unhr:appliesTo unhr:Child .

unhr:PublicTrial a unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:label "Public Trial" ;
    unhr:appliesTo unhr:Person .

unhr:HumanRightsPromotion a unhr:HumanRights ;
    rdfs:label "Human Rights Promotion" ;
    unhr:appliesTo [ a owl:Class ; owl:unionOf (unhr:Person unhr:Group) ] .

unhr:Discrimination a unhr:ActOmission ;
    rdfs:label "Discrimination" ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:DiscriminationProsecution .

unhr:Torture a unhr:ActOmission ;
    rdfs:label "Torture" ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:TortureProsecution .

unhr:Genocide a unhr:ActOmission ;
    rdfs:label "Genocide" ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:GenocideProsecution .

unhr:Slavery a unhr:ActOmission ;
    rdfs:label "Slavery" ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:SlaveryProsecution .

unhr:DiscriminationProsecution a unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "Discrimination Prosecution" .

unhr:TortureProsecution a unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "Torture Prosecution" .

unhr:GenocideProsecution a unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "Genocide Prosecution" .

unhr:SlaveryProsecution a unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "Slavery Prosecution" .

unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanismInternationalCooperation a unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanism ;
    rdfs:label "International Cooperation for Human Rights Protection" .
            

Constraints and Axioms

The ontology enforces the following constraints:

• Each unhr:Article must have exactly one unhr:hasArticleNumber.
• unhr:Person, unhr:Group, and unhr:Child are disjoint classes.
• Each unhr:HumanRightsInstrument must have at least one unhr:hasProvision.

Linked-Data Usage

SPARQL query to retrieve provisions addressing specific violations across all instruments:

PREFIX unhr: 
SELECT ?instrument ?provision ?content ?violation
WHERE {
    ?instrument a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
                unhr:hasProvision ?provision .
    ?provision unhr:hasContent ?content ;
               unhr:addressesViolation ?violation .
    ?violation a unhr:ActOmission .
}
            

SPARQL query to find rights and protection mechanisms for children across instruments:

PREFIX unhr: 
SELECT ?right ?mechanism
WHERE {
    ?right a unhr:HumanRights ;
           unhr:appliesTo unhr:Child ;
           unhr:hasProtectionMechanism ?mechanism .
}
            

Extending the Ontology

To model a specific instrument, create instances of unhr:HumanRightsInstrument and unhr:Article, and link them to rights, violations, or mechanisms. For example, to add an article from the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action:

unhr:VDPA a unhr:HumanRightsInstrument ;
    unhr:hasInstrumentName "Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action" .

unhr:VDPA_SectionI_1 a unhr:Article ;
    unhr:hasArticleNumber 1 ;
    unhr:hasContent "The World Conference on Human Rights reaffirms the solemn commitment of all States to fulfil their obligations to promote universal respect for, and observance and protection of, all human rights..." ;
    unhr:definesRight unhr:HumanRightsPromotion ;
    unhr:hasProtectionMechanism unhr:HumanRightsProtectionMechanismInternationalCooperation .