As UN Secretary-General António Guterres has said, the current moment calls into question many of the economic concepts and models that inform current policies. The current economic model fails to provide prosperity for all, as can be seen by rising levels of poverty as well as growing inequalities within and among countries. In a human rights economy, economic policies, investment decisions, consumer choices and business models are guided by human rights, and the integration of human rights at each level in turn measurably enhances outcomes for all. A ‘human rights economy’ places people and the planet at the heart of policymaking. Adopting a human rights economy is crucial to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The human rights economy
The human rights economy is simply properly applying pre-existing legal obligations to economic activity, as was intended by the Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the treaties that followed it, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
A human rights economy centres people and the planet in economic, social, and environmental policies, plans and programmes and aims at ensuring that economic, industrial and trade policies, investment decisions, consumer protections and choices, as well as business models, are firmly guided by human rights norms and standards. It fosters participation and empowers groups subject to discrimination. It intentionally aims at eliminating discrimination and reducing inequalities by investing in economic, social, the right to development, and other rights, and dismantling structural barriers and other impediments to equality, justice, sustainable growth and shared prosperity.
Human Rights Economy can be expressed via the following ten pathways:
Renewed commitment to realising economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the right to development.
Placing human rights as guardrails for fiscal policies.
Accelerating efforts on countering discrimination and inequalities.
Reinforcing human rights in economic policies, regulations and business operations.
Human Rights enhancing investments and trade policies.
Enshrining human rights at the core of industrial policies.
Investing in care and support systems anchored in human rights.
Reconciling economic growth with climate and environmental action.
Measuring economic success beyond GDP.
Fostering consumer and political participation and fiscal transparency.
More information on the concept of the human rights economy and the link to the webpage is available here.
The basics
OHCHR established the Surge Initiative in late 2019 to respond to galloping inequalities, the slow-paced implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and growing social unrest. The aim of the initiative was to step up country- and regional-level engagement on economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs), the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and prevention and strengthen the link between human rights and economics. The outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, within months of the launch of the Surge Initiative, lent a compelling urgency to achieving its objectives.
A human rights economy seeks to redress root causes and structural barriers to equality, justice, and sustainability, by prioritizing investment in economic, social and cultural rights, as well as the right to development.
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A human rights economy will deliver better results for people and planet, because, beyond profit, it is grounded in everybody’s rights. Its policies direct a wind of powerful energy to achieving the Sustainable Development Agenda – which is a human rights agenda – and coherently address the social and environmental issues that matter deeply to every human being on this Earth.
According to UN Human Rights, a human rights economy places people and the planet at the heart of economic policies, investment decisions, consumer choices, and business models, with the goal of measurably enhancing the enjoyment of human rights for all.
Connect
The establishment of OHCHR-UNESCO Chairs on Human Rights Economy will draw on the experience and existing infrastructure of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme – a strategic resource of some 900 higher education institutions across 120 countries aimed at strengthening connections between research, development policy and practice at country, regional and global levels. The OHCHR-UNESCO Chairs established within the framework of this initiative will be included in the database of UNESCO Chairs and UNITWIN Networks and will benefit from the activities and opportunities provided to the current members of the network.
If county governments are to use their budgets to effectively realize people’s rights, they need to understand the relationship of the budget to the human rights guarantees in the Constitution of Kenya.
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