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Enough is Enough: The Future is Public

Enough is Enough: The Future is Public

Enough is Enough: The Future is Public - A well-attended conversation with nine human rights officials

 

“Enough is Enough: The Future is Public” was an exceptional event. Attended by over 500 people, it brought together for the first time nine global and regional human rights representatives to reflect on the crucial role of public services in building a more sustainable, inclusive, socially-just and resilient economy and society.


Watch the event

Panellists and moderator

The event was moderated by Glenda Grace, Senior Vice Chancellor for International Affairs, Strategic Advancement and Special Counsel, City University of New York.

  • Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law and co-chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, and former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

  • Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

  • Koumbou Boly Barry, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education  

  • Solomon Ayele Dersso, Chairperson, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Founding Director of Amani Africa Media and Research Services, and Adjunct Professor at Addis Ababa University College of Law and Governance Studies

  • Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift, and former UN 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

  • Léo Heller, former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

  • Aoife Nolan, Vice-President of the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights, and Professor of International Human Rights Law and Co-Director of the Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham

  • Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Soledad García Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, provided a short intervention by video.

The role of public services in the current context

The first part of the discussion focused on the pivotal role of public services in responding to the challenges the world is currently facing: the ongoing impacts of COVID-19, high and rising inequalities, and the climate and ecological crisis.

We can no longer debate whether or not public services are fundamental… If there is a time to completely settle this debate about whether access to public services is a fundamental human rights issue, it is this moment.

Solomon Ayele Dersso, Chairperson, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Founding Director of Amani Africa Media and Research Services, and Adjunct Professor at Addis Ababa University College of Law and Governance Studies

Public services are a key and irreplaceable means by which human rights are achieved.

Aoife Nolan, Vice-President of the Council of Europe’s European Committee of Social Rights, and Professor of International Human Rights Law Centre, University of Nottingham

The pandemic has generated an overwhelming consensus around the world on the need to strengthen public health systems as a public, not for-profit, effort that must leave no one behind.

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo, UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

Under human rights law, the States have an obligation to provide universal quality public services. Human rights monitoring bodies at the global and regional levels have increasingly recognised that the enjoyment of rights such as education, water, sanitation, health and housing, required quality, transparent, participatory, democratically governed and trusted public services.

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

Privatisation and commercialisation without adequate State action have had disastrous impact of human rights in the [Inter-American] region, limiting access to services essential for human dignity to disable to pay and thereby exacerbating inequalities to the detriment of the most marginalised.

Soledad García Muñoz, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Structural barriers to challenging privatisation and building public alternatives

The second part of the discussion addressed the importance of challenging the dominant neoliberal narrative that has driven the privatisation and commercialisation of public services. The panellists stressed that challenging privatisation should be a fundamental concern for all human rights advocates.

Public services are central to all rights. It is not just economic and social rights. It is not just [those] like me who believe in social rights, it is people who are narrowly focused on civil and political rights who should be scared to death of what is going on, because the elimination of public services is going to eventually undermine all of those rights as well.

Philip Alston, John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law and co-chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University Law School, and former UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights

The first lesson that we can learn from this global environmental, social, economic, and even political crisis is the obligation of states. States are the primary actors in the delivery of public services and particularly education. We must absolutely remember this. The State is the primary guarantor of inclusive, public, quality, and free education.

Koumbou Boly Barry, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education

The barrier that we are facing in this particular area is that we need to a huge and fundamental paradigmatic shift across the board, a shift…where housing is viewed and understood as a human right.

Leilani Farha, Global Director of The Shift, and former UN 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

Often the current narrative assumes a position that the public is intrinsically inefficient, and the private sector would bring efficiency to collective services… This ideological background is due to an ideological wash produced over decades and has been clearly strengthened in this neoliberal era.

·         Léo Heller, former UN Special Rapporteur on the human rights to safe drinking water and sanitation

The global manifesto on public services

The final part of the discussion focused on the significance of the global civil society on public services, which was launched on 25 October.

Learn more about the manifesto

The manifesto is very timely and, I will say, necessary, so it’s very welcome. In this time, it’s very relevant to highlight the importance of the public sector in the era of neoliberalism where many people are advocating for the replacement of the State by the market.

Léo Heller

This [the manifesto] is really a great initiative which captures the current consciousness, the current consensus and indeed expectations of a wide segment of society in terms of the kind of world, the kind of societies that we would like to live in.

Solomon Ayele Dersso

What I thought was really innovative with the manifesto and really useful…is its explicit emphasis on public services having to be responsive and transformative… The stress on the need for public services to be environmentally and ecologically conscious is [also] welcome right now given the obvious, very clear link between climate change, the environment and human rights.

class="">Aoife Nolan

I think it is an excellent manifesto… in the approach of promoting a global mobilisation, I have the intuition that we need to develop a powerful global movement of rights defenders in the world, just as the global youth movement has arisen in the face of climate change.

Pedro Arrojo-Agudo

The public services manifesto represents a unifying vision of public services that different actors and movements can rally around… What is also very important is that the manifesto is reflective of a broader dynamic… a growing consciousness regarding the crucial importance of public services… There is an emerging movement bringing together social movements, academia and civil society actors from a range of sectors and movements supporting public services.

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona

 

This event was organised and hosted by ActionAid, the East African Centre for Human Rights, the European Network on Debt and Development, the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, the Initiative for Social and Economic Rights, Oxfam, Public Services International, the Society for International Development, and the Transnational Institute.

 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.