ECONOMIC POLICY AND HUMAN RIGHTS - October 2012
So far in 2012, the organizations collectively working on the ‘Bottom-Up Approach to Righting Financial Regulation’ project have released three factsheets. The first of these details the human rights obligations of central banks, as governmental institutions. The second factsheet discusses the human rights implications of instituting a financial transaction tax. This primer details how governments have a duty to ensure any revenue raised from a Financial Transaction Tax (FTT) assists them to fulfill their economic, social and cultural rights obligations according to their maximum available resources. In May, the third factsheet was released, discussing the human rights responsibilities of the Group of 20, in time for their 2012 Heads of State meeting in Mexico.
In June, the Economic Policy and Human Rights Working Group developed an open letter to the EU Heads of State, to pressure them to support calls for an EU-wide Financial Transaction Tax and to use monies raised with this instrument to ameliorate the impacts of austerity and budget cuts in the wake of the financial crisis. The letter was sent to the offices of each EU Head of State in the week of their meeting to continue consideration of measures to improve the economic recovery.
Please contact Dominic Renfrey if you are interested in finding out more about this Working Group and how to get involved at: drenfrey [at] escr-net.org.