IACHR discussed the Principles and Guidelines for Tax Policy and Human Rights
On 15 March 2021, as part of the official agenda of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), the organizations and the Committee of Experts who supported the elaboration of the Principles and Guidelines for Tax Policy met with IACHR Commissioners to discuss this important document, which should be published next May. Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, our Executive Director, participated as a member of the Committee of Experts.
The meeting aimed to
present the current draft of the Principles and Guidelines to the Commissioners of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Office of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA).
Generate a discussion and feedback on the document with these actors before its publication.
Seek synergies between the work of the Initiative for Human Rights Principles in Fiscal Policy with the IACHR and its REDESCA in order to align fiscal policies with human rights standards in the region.
As a member of the Committee of Experts, Magdalena Sepúlveda moderated a discussion during the meeting on the usefulness of the Principles and Guidelines and ways to maximise their impact once adopted.
The Initiative for Human Rights Principles and Guidelines (HRGP) in Tax Policy is a collaborative civil society initiative to put human rights and social justice at the center of tax and public spending policies. The Initiative, led by the CESR, seeks to design, disseminate and promote the implementation of a rigorous normative instrument that elaborates the scope of human rights standards applicable to tax policy, with the aim of becoming a valuable tool for states, monitoring bodies and other actors.
The objectives driving the Initiative are to contribute to a new narrative that presents fiscal policy as a rights issue; to provide a policy guide showing how states can design fiscal policies that respect human rights; and to provide a tool to promote accountability, to track states' performance in this field based on the P&Ds.