On Tuesday 18 May 2021, experts analysed the role of fiscal policy in guaranteeing the realisation of economic and social rights in the new Chilean Constitution in an event convened by GI-ESCR, the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Ciudadanía Inteligente and the Center for Constitutional and Comparative Law at the University of Virginia, as part of the Fiscal Justice and Human Rights Week.

The event, on “Constitutions, economic alternatives, and Human Rights: Towards more equal social contracts”, was attended by Olivia Minatta, lawyer and researcher at CESR; Javier Couso, constitutional lawyer and academic at Diego Portales University in Chile; Manuel José Cepeda, former judge of the Constitutional Court of Colombia; and Sergio Chaparro, representative of CESR's Human Rights programme.

The guests analysed the opportunities opened up by the drafting of a new constitution in Chile to include clauses that promote a fiscal policy aimed at financing and ensuring the economic and social rights enshrined in the fundamental charter.

Fiscal policy refers to the set of revenue and expenditure policies that determine the amount of resources available to the State and the purposes for which they are invested for the development of State activities. The phases of fiscal policy consist of the generation and mobilisation of resources, their allocation, execution and monitoring of fiscal policy. Consequently, fiscal policy is a crucial element in financing in practice the provision and protection of the social rights that a fundamental charter enunciates.

CESR researcher Olivia Minatta refuted the belief that constitutions that do not refer to social rights are neutral.

"It would seem that constitutions have nothing to do with the economy if they do not incorporate social rights. When they do, they include certain glosses in terms of welfare and that is where they can incorporate a development model and are not neutral, but otherwise they would be neutral. However, it is difficult to find a constitution that is completely neutral with respect to the economy".

In the same vein, Manuel José Cepeda, former magistrate of the Colombian Constitutional Court, explained how constitutions include mechanisms that can guide fiscal policy and state action in a certain direction.

"Constitutions do not only set the framework for the political game. If they include certain principles, they become an instrument that can transform certain aspects of a country".

Chilean academic Javier Couso, for his part, welcomed the importance of bringing fiscal policy to the centre of the debate on social rights in the new Chilean constitution:

"Fiscal issues are complex, but they are crucial when it comes to satisfying economic and social rights. It is true that there is more tradition of dealing with these issues in federal countries, because of fiscal federalism".

Finally, Sergio Chaparro of CESR highlighted what should be considered as the end of fiscal policy:

"Fiscal policy must consider the guarantee of social rights as its main objective. Thus, fiscal institutions should be evaluated according to their consequences on rights".

Watch the event on CESCR’s Facebook page