This paper was prepared in response to the request of the seventeenth meeting of the chairpersons of the human rights treaty bodies (see A/60/278) asking the Secretariat to pursue the work it had initiated to provide assistance to the treaty bodies in analysing statistical information in State parties’ reports and to prepare a background paper for the next inter-committee meeting on the possible uses of indicators. This document provides an outline of a conceptual and methodological framework for developing indicators for monitoring compliance by States parties with international human rights treaties.