ECONOMIC POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS - April 2011

As part of its campaign towards designing and implementing human rights-centered economic and financial policies, ESCR-Net's Economic Policy and Human Rights Initiative--together with the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL), Rutgers University and the Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts (PERI)--developed a report on economic policy in the US entitled, Towards a Human Rights-Centered Macro-Economic and Financial Policy in the U.S. The submission focuses on the human rights implications of the financial crisis and subsequent domestic policy responses. In particular, it focuses on the human rights obligation to protect and fulfill economic and social rights as well as the need for transparency, accountability and participation in the making of human rights-centered macroeconomic policy in the US. Download the full submission here, or read the joint press release here.

At the US UPR session in November 2010, ESCR-Net co-organized with CWGL, PERI, US Human Rights Network, CESR, and UJC an important side event to propel economic policy into the review. Participants in Building Foundations for Freedom from Want in the Land of Plenty presented to government delegations and UN and US officials the need for the US to place a greater focus on achieving freedom from want by implementing its obligation to protect, respect, and fulfill economic and social rights. To learn more about the repercussions and follow-ups in this advocacy, visit CWGL here. To view the video from this side event, visit here.

In the context of its ongoing efforts to bring human rights into the foundation of policy responses to the economic crisis, ESCR-Net and several of its members were invited to participate in a UN Expert meeting on the impact of recovery measures on the human rights of those living in extreme poverty, convened by the Independent Expert on the Question of Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, Ms Magdalena Sepúlveda. The expert meeting brought together experts from governments, international organizations, academic research institutions, and non-governmental organizations to discuss, provide concrete input and recommendations for her forthcoming report on the impact of recovery policies on the human rights of those living in poverty. ESCR-Net's Niko Lusiani presented insights and key recommendations from the joint report Bringing Human Rights to Bear in Times of Crisis: A human rights analysis of government responses to the economic crisis. For more information about Ms. Sepúlveda's efforts and mandate, visit here.

The Center of Concern and ESCR-Net--together with 14 key human rights and trade organizations--are continuing to develop a pilot project on trade, finance, investment and human rights. The goal of the project is to increase the impact of human rights advocacy on economic policy-making processes, with a particular focus on agriculture.

In November 2010, participating organizations released the Kuala Lumpur Guidelines for a Human Rights Approach to Economic Policy in Agriculture. The three-part Kuala Lumpur Guidelines are designed as a tool to provide basic information and a methodology for use by anyone concerned with ensuring the primacy and centrality of human rights of those affected by trade, investment and finance rules as well as fiscal, monetary and other economic policies related to agriculture. The Kuala Lumpur Guidelines aim to contribute to the further development, application and interpretation of international human rights law in relation to economic law and policy as pertaining to agriculture.