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Human rights instruments and mechanisms in the struggle for fiscal justice post-2015

Explore the intersection of human rights norms, accountability mechanisms, and fiscal justice post-2015. Highlight the respective duties in financing sustainable development, fiscal policy efforts, and avenues for accountability.

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Human rights instruments and mechanisms in the struggle for fiscal justice post-2015

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  1. Human rights instruments and mechanisms in the struggle for fiscal justice post-2015 Niko Lusiani, CESR

  2. Sufficient, equitable and accountable financing of sustainable development post-2015

  3. How can human rights norms and accountabilitymechanisms support fiscal justice post-2015? • Help delineate respective public and private duties for financing sustainable development • Eyes on fiscal policy efforts alongside outcomes • Provide largely untapped avenues for fiscal accountability • Broaden the platform of fiscal justice advocates for sustained advocacy

  4. Human rights imply public (and private) duties Primary State obligations include: • Duty to substantive equality  progressive equitable tax policy, counterbalancing efficiency principle • Extraterritorial duty to int’l cooperation over tax competition • Prevent own companies from abusing human rights Private sector duties include: • Base-line responsibility to respect human rights in all operations, due diligence to show and prove ending tax abuses • Tackling fiscal challenges impossible without making clear who should do what, and who will be ultimately accountable if fiscal commitments (e.g. “reducing illicit financial flows by x%,) are not achieved. • Human rights delineate these respective roles and obligations (within, below and beyond the state), putting the finger on responsible parties and necessary remedies.

  5. Focus on fiscal policy efforts and outcomes Human rights standards hold gov’ts to account for conduct and results. As much about the how of fiscal policy-making as the what and why. • Nat’l ownership and policy space critical for financing development post-2015, yet… • Relying on outcome-oriented targets alone (e.g. ‘reducing IFFs by x%’) without including commitments on requisite policy efforts (e.g. beneficial ownership of companies, trusts and foundations; automatic tax information exchange; mandatory fiscal policy spillover analyses) will lead to nebulous and inconclusive results. Human rights supports a double-barreled focus on conduct and outcomes, strengthening post-2015 emphasis on policy commitments and accountability for them.

  6. Untapped avenues for fiscal accountability • Human rights also provide wide array of soft and hard enforcement mechanisms for effective and enduring fiscal accountability. • Domestic: • Constitutional courts (e.g. Colombia, Portugal, Kenya), national human rights commissions, parliamentary committees • Regional: • Regional human rights systems (e.g. Council of Europe, Inter-American System) • International: • UN human rights experts (e.g. SRs on poverty, food, debt) • UN treaty bodies (e.g. CESCR, CRC) • Human Rights Council itself (UPR and resolutions)

  7. Broaden platform for sustained fiscal justice advocacy Framing fiscal policy as human rights policy can move discourse beyond the elite technocratic sphere into the arena of legitimate public scrutiny, debate and mobilization. • Help broaden the fiscal justice platform to include corporate accountability campaigners, social movements, litigators , budget analysts, everyday people.  Sustained alliance-building and advocacy across concerned constituencies will be essential to transform post-2015 moment into fiscal justice movement.

  8. Further resources • ‘A Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution: Human Rights Policy Brief’ (CESR and Christian Aid) • ‘Assessing fiscal policies from a human rights perspective’ (CESR) • ‘Fiscal Fallacies: 8 Myths about the Age of Austerity and Human Rights Responses’ (CESR) • UN Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty’s landmark report on Tax Policy and Human Rights • Council of Europe’s Human Rights Commissioner, ‘Safeguarding Human Rights in Times of Crisis’ • ‘Resourcing Rights: Combating Tax Injustice from a Human Rights Perspective’ in Human Rights and Public Finance (Hart, 2013) • ‘Economic and Social Rights in the ‘Great Recession’: Towards a Human Rights-Centered Economic Policy in Times of Crisis’ in Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in International Law: Contemporary Issues and Challenges (Oxford University Press, 2014) • ‘Only the Little People Pay Taxes: Tax Evasion and Switzerland’s Extraterritorial Obligations to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights’ in Litigating Transnational Human Rights Obligations: Alternative judgments

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