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IACHR Recognises Fiscal Policy as a Human Rights Issue and Unpacks Actionable Legal Obligations

IACHR Recognises Fiscal Policy as a Human Rights Issue and Unpacks Actionable Legal Obligations

Today, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights adopted a new resolution on economic and fiscal policies for the guarantee of human rights, developed with the support of its Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights. The resolution marks a significant step in the development of regional standards on fiscal policy, affirming that public finance must be understood as part of States’ human rights obligations. 

 

Access the resolution here.

 

Fiscal Policy as a Condition for Rights 

 

The resolution links tax design, budget allocation, debt management, public spending, economic reform and international cooperation to the financing of health, education, care, housing, social protection, climate action and other essential rights. It treats these choices as part of the conditions that determine whether rights are realised in practice and whether inequalities are reduced or reproduced. 

For GI-ESCR, the resolution reflects a central message of our work: fiscal policy must be assessed through the lens of human rights. In a region marked by deep inequality, regressive tax systems, illicit financial flows, unjustified tax privileges and constrained fiscal space, rights cannot be realised without transforming the way public resources are mobilised and distributed. 

The resolution addresses and unpacks a broad range of enforceable obligations, including the need for States to: 

  • Build progressive and redistributive tax systems 
  • Protect essential social spending 
  • Fund essential public policies, programmes and services 
  • Review unjustified tax benefits 
  • Strengthen transparency and accountability mechanisms 
  • Assess the human rights impacts of economic policies, including those in the context of emergencies and fiscal consolidation, before their enactment and implementation 
  • Ensure that fiscal decisions do not deepen structural discrimination on the basis of gender, race and other protected categories 

 

Public Spending, Public Services and Austerity 

 

A major contribution of the resolution is its recognition that public expenditure must be oriented towards the guarantee of rights. Among other obligations, it calls on States to: 

  • Allocate, implement and evaluate public spending in ways that guarantee economic, social, cultural and environmental rights 
  • Ensure adequate resources to finance essential public policies, programmes and services, particularly those necessary to ensure the minimum essential levels of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights 
  • Direct public spending in line with the principles of substantive equality and non-discrimination 
  • Identify and address spending gaps that perpetuate pre-existing structural inequalities 
  • Allocate adequate resources to policies, programmes and services that reduce inequalities and expand the inclusion of historically discriminated-against or vulnerable groups 

This is especially significant for public services. The resolution affirms that fiscal policy is inseparable from States’ obligations to fund the services, programmes and systems needed to guarantee rights. It also strengthens human rights standards against austerity, making clear that States must refrain from adopting austerity measures that reduce public spending in ways that have regressive effects incompatible with their international human rights obligations. 

 

Care Systems and Substantive Equality 

  

The resolution also makes significant progress on care. It recognises that States must ensure adequate, stable and progressive budgetary allocations for the development and strengthening of comprehensive care systems, and that the equitable distribution of care is a condition for substantive equality. Among the measures it identifies, the resolution: 

Recognises the economic and social value of care work 

  • Requires States to allocate resources for care infrastructure, services and programmes 
  • Calls for adequate working conditions and remuneration for care workers 
  • Calls on States to avoid budget cuts in primary care services, early childhood education, long-term care, community-based programmes and support for older persons or persons with disabilities, since such cuts intensify unpaid care work, especially for women and girls, thereby deepening structural gender inequalities 

 

Tax Cooperation and Resource Mobilisation

 

The resolution also speaks to issues that have been at the centre of our advocacy, including international tax cooperation, extraterritorial obligations, tax transparency and the need to combat tax abuse, evasion, avoidance and illicit financial flows. These issues directly affect States' capacity to guarantee human rights: when resources are lost through secrecy, profit shifting, harmful tax competition or weak cooperation between States, governments have fewer tools to finance public services and fulfil their human rights obligations. 

The resolution explicitly recognises that Article 26 of the American Convention on Human Rights, interpreted together with the OAS Charter and the Protocol of San Salvador, obliges States to mobilise the maximum available resources to progressively realise economic, social, cultural and environmental rights, both domestically and through international cooperation. Among other transparency and cooperation measures, it calls on States to: 

  • Strengthen automatic exchange of tax information 
  • Establish registers of beneficial owners 
  • Review confidentiality and secrecy regimes that may facilitate tax abuse 

 

Climate Justice and Fiscal Policy 

 

The resolution recognises that fiscal measures related to the climate emergency and the energy transition must be consistent with human rights, including the right to a healthy environment. Among other measures, it calls on States to: 

  • Adopt, review or strengthen environmental taxes and other fiscal measures that discourage activities causing significant environmental harm or contributing to the climate emergency, while mobilising resources for mitigation, adaptation, resilience, a just transition and addressing loss and damage 
  • Periodically review tax benefits that may favour polluting activities or activities incompatible with environmental protection and human rights and, where appropriate, correct, reduce or eliminate them, particularly when they involve fossil fuel subsidies or extractive activities with high environmental impact 
  • Accompany such changes with just transition policies, including investment in clean, renewable and non-polluting energy, sustainable transport, energy efficiency, green jobs, access to energy and measures to prevent disproportionate impacts on vulnerable individuals and groups 
  • Allocate adequate and sufficient resources for climate change mitigation and adaptation, a just energy transition, addressing loss and damage, environmental protection, water management, waste management and biodiversity conservation 
  • Ensure that climate finance prioritises the people, communities and territories most affected by the climate crisis or most at risk, while shifting financing burdens to those most historically responsible for the planetary crisis 

 

GI-ESCR’s Advocacy and the Road Ahead 

 

GI-ESCR has consistently called for the Inter-American Human Rights System to provide clearer guidance on these issues. In November 2025, during a public hearing before the IACHR on fiscal policy and the fight against poverty, Ezequiel Steuermann, our Programme Officer on Economic Justice and Climate Finance, urged the Commission to adopt a thematic resolution on fiscal policy and human rights. 

 

Watch Ezequiel Steuermann's intervention here.

 

We argued that fiscal policy can either enable rights or block them, and called on the Commission to clarify States' obligations under Article 26 of the American Convention on Human Rights, including: 

  • The duty of international cooperation in fiscal matters, including through the fight against aggressive tax competition with extraterritorial implications 
  • The need for concrete tools such as asset registries, public country-by-country reporting, and broader automatic exchange of tax information 

The adoption of this resolution is especially significant as States are also negotiating a United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, which is explicitly referenced by the IACHR. Stronger Inter-American standards can help ensure that global tax debates are informed by human rights, equality, the obligation to mobilise the maximum available resources and the need to finance public services, care systems and climate action. GI-ESCR will continue to draw on this resolution in our work on the UN Tax Convention, the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, public services, care systems and climate finance, advocating for fiscal frameworks that are just, transparent and capable of financing the rights of all people in the region. 

Across a region facing growing social demands, climate pressures, debt burdens and democratic strain, the resolution affirms that fiscal policy must be aligned with human rights. Fairer, more transparent and more accountable fiscal systems are necessary to turn human rights obligations into public action, especially for communities whose rights have long been denied. 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.