Resources on Public Services and Human Rights

This page is a non-exhaustive list of external resources related to privatisation, human rights and public services. It is updated on a regular basis.

UN Special Rapporteur reports

These are some of the recent reports by UN Special Rapporteurs focused on privatisation and public services.

• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation, Léo Heller, on human rights and the privatisation of water and sanitation services (2020)

• Report of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of human rights, Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky, on private debt and human rights

• Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Koumbou Boly Barry, on the implementation of the right to education and Sustainable Development Goal 4 in the context of the growth of private actors in education (2019)

• Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, on privatisation (2018)

• Report of the Special Rapporteur on adequate housing as a component of the right to an adequate standard of living, and on the right to non-discrimination in this context, Leilani Farha, on the financialisation of housing (2017)

Civil society materials

• People Over Profit, a global online knowledge library and campaign builder created by Public Services International

• Public Futures Global Database, an database of successful remunicipalisation cases from around the world created by the Transnational Institute

• Who cares for the future?, a report published by ActionAid calling for properly financed, gender-responsive public services