Why Can’t We Compare Complaints?

The lack of a shared “complaint vocabulary” across the various IAMs hampers community comprehension, broader public engagement, and system-wide analysis. As the number of complaints grows, so does the need for a standardized method to assess, categorize, and report complaints.

When the Accountability Console was first developed in 2017, there were 956 known complaints across 13 Independent Accountability Mechanisms (IAMs). As of this year, after the Research Team at Accountability Counsel completed a comprehensive update of complaint data across 17 IAMs, that number has grown to over 1,800 complaints. The work of updating, standardizing, and maintaining this dataset is a significant use of our research team’s time and resources, and is still constrained by the wide differentiation in reporting standards and transparency practices of different IAMs.

The lack of a shared “complaint vocabulary” across the various IAMs hampers community comprehension, broader public engagement, and system-wide analysis. As the number of complaints grows, so does the need for a standardized method to assess, categorize, and report complaints. This article delves into the importance of developing a shared perspective and vocabulary across the expanding IAM ecosystem, the hurdles that must be overcome to do this effectively, and some ethical considerations for ensuring that data standardization does not result in the further marginalization of community voices.

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