This article builds on work first presented at the 2025 Hawaii International Conference on System Sciences. It demonstrates how computational methods, such as natural language processing (NLP) and large language models (LLMs), can be applied to analyze and evaluate international agreements, with a focus on disability rights reporting under the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD).

• There is widespread global implementation of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD), with a growing emphasis on social justice and economic inclusion for persons with disabilities.
  

• The study’s hybrid data analysis approach, which integrates traditional text mining with Generative AI tools, offers a promising methodology for systematically assessing treaty implementation and supporting evidence-based policy evaluation in human rights contexts.
  

• Civil society engagement and policy frameworks that focus on accessibility, service access, and legal protection are critical for improving disability rights, though policy gaps persist internationally.

"Our study’s capacity-building use of NLP and AI creates digital tools that can help streamline complex data into actionable insights and are accessible to nonspecialist users, thus expanding possibilities for inclusive, multistakeholder participatory policymaking—especially in settings where governments or organizations may lack the resources to process voluminous data," says Derrick Cogburn, Kogod School of Business professor. 

Read this article.