Driven by years of advocacy by civil society organizations, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights issued a groundbreaking resolution that reinforces the role of fiscal justice as a fundamental element in guaranteeing human rights.
By María Emilia Mamberti*
Amid major challenges facing multilateral institutions, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) has recently demonstratedhow international organizations can remain relevant, innovative, and responsive to the sociopolitical contexts in which they operate. It did so by publishing Resolution 2/26 on “Fiscal Policies and Human Rights in the Americas,” in which—drawing on the Commission’s long history of work on the issue—it laid the groundwork for the relationship between human rights and fiscal instruments. In its resolution, the IACHR provided concrete guidelines for member states of the inter-American system to evaluate and align their policies with their human rights obligations.
The Resolution addresses the central issues of tax justice in the region. For example, it enshrines tax progressivity as a human rights obligation. In other words, tax systems must impose higher rates on high incomes, wealth, and capital gains, and reduce reliance on indirect taxes that have a regressive effect on lower-income sectors. Furthermore, the Resolution interprets tax evasion and avoidance as an indirect violation of human rights, as they erode the fiscal space available to finance essential public services.
The Resolution adds that, as a general rule, States must refrain from adopting austerity measures. However, in line with existing interpretations, it considers that such measures may be permissible in exceptional cases (for example, with very strict justification and enhanced protection for vulnerable groups). Nevertheless, this interpretation opens the door to further fiscal adjustment measures in the region. Latindadd has recently documented how many countries in the region routinely resort to austerity measures as a policy preference over the alternative of progressively increasing tax revenue.
Although the Resolution’s standards of tax justice seem intuitive, in countries throughout our region, there is still a long way to go to achieve them. Latindadd’s recent multi-stakeholder tours show, for example, persistent tax abuses by corporations, or the need to mobilize additional resources, in a progressive manner, for basic rights such as those of children.
The Resolution also demonstrates how human rights standards can be built “from the bottom up” and mobilized not only as formal normative standards but also as tools to support social demands in various arenas. Organizations from various countries in Latin America and the Caribbean have been urging the IACHR for years to decisively address the central role of fiscal policy in the effective fulfillment of all human rights, and have thus succeeded in moving fiscal policy from the margins to the center of the inter-American agenda.
The content of the resolution, which systematically incorporates issues related to climate and the environment, gender and care, and racial discrimination, reinforces the Commission’s robust interpretation of human rights—one that is connected to the demands of social movements.
This progressive understanding of the human rights framework, in which the region is a pioneer, creates virtuous cycles that open up new advocacy opportunities to advance tax justice. This is reflected, for example, in the leadership that many countries in the region have shown in introducing and defending human rights language in the text currently under negotiation for the United Nations Framework Convention on Tax Cooperation. It is therefore essential that the IACHR’s relevant interpretations be taken into account in the next phases of the Convention’s negotiation.
The IACHR’s Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) has played a pivotal role both in implementing the Resolution and in developing interpretations of inter-American standards over the years. In its work, REDESCA has employed a participatory approach, bringing together a variety of representatives from academia, civil society, and social movements for formal and informal consultations, thematic hearings, and other public activities. This approach illustrates, through a concrete example, how institutions can collaboratively and transparently build knowledge and develop rigorous proposals on tax issues—a model that the region is also pioneering through the Civil Society Advisory Council of the Regional Platform for Tax Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean (PT-LAC).
*María Emilia Mamberti is a lawyer specializing in economic issues and a member of Latindadd’s Tax Justice division. This is a translation of the original article that can be found here:
