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On the Ground

Explore our work with partners, globally and locally, to tackle social and economic injustice using a human rights lens.

GI-ESCR at the 50th Human Rights Council

GI-ESCR at the 50th Human Rights Council

GI-ESCR at the 50th Human Rights Council

 

GI-ESCR participated in the 50th regular session of the Human Rights Council. The council took place from 13 June - 8 July 2022 in Geneva. The session covered several crucial topics for GI-ESCR. For this reason we have followed several debates, negotiations and mandates. Moreover, we delivered 5 statements and organised 3 side events in light of the council.

 

Mandates & Debates

On Climate Change

During the 50th session, the newly elected UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights in the context of climate change, Ian Fry, presented his first report outlining his plans for the mandate which was followed by an interactive dialogue with States and civil society. As a member of the Geneva Climate Change Consultation Group and the Human Rights and Climate Change Working Group, we were amongst the first three NGOs to deliver an oral statement to the Special Rapporteur, once more showing our support for this important mandate for which we have advocated for the past years.

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In light of UN resolution 47/24, the HRC held a specific panel on the impact of climate change on people in vulnerable situations, based on the report published by OHCHR on the topic to which GI-ESCR has submitted a written contribution back in December 2021. We actively followed the debate, keeping close track of States’ comments and questions on the report for further engagement.

 

On the right to education

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Koumbou Boly Barry, presented her annual thematic report on the digitalisation of education to the council in which she highlights the challenges that digitalisation poses to the respect, protection and fulfilment of the human right. In support of her report, GI-ESCR delivered an oral statement, highlighting the threat of increased commercialisation of education through private actors engaged in digital education.

Read our statement

On the right to health

The UN Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, Tlaleng Mofokeng, presented her annual thematic report on violence against women, its causes and consequences on the right to health. In light of the report, GI-ESCR presented an oral statement in which we highlight that governments must invest in strong, high-quality, public healthcare systems and provide sufficient resources to allow victims, as well as perpetrators, to receive a comprehensive set of healthcare and social services, including mental health assistance, to end cycles of violence.

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On care

In light of the annual discussion on women’s human rights, the council held its afternoon panel on the topic of human rights-based and gender-responsive care and support systems.  As the first NGO to speak on the panel discussion, GI-ESCR took the opportunity to raise the issue of decades of how privatisation of care and support services has further entrenched gender inequality and global economic inequality. We also urged States to use a human rights-centred approach in the organisation of care and support systems.

 

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On the council’s commemoration of the 50th session

In commemoration of its 50th session, the Human Rights Council decided to organise an event highlighting the achievements and challenges of the council in the past 17 years and its future outlook. Though we were unfortunately not able to deliver an oral statement to the session due to time constraints, we submitted our statement to the council. In the statement, we highlighted the role the council has played in the strengthening of economic, social, and cultural rights through resolutions and the establishment of special procedures. At the same time, we raised our concerns about the commercialisation of public services and green transition efforts that don’t center human rights in climate action.

Resolutions

Resolution on climate change

The yearly resolution on climate change was presented by the core group of Viet Nam, Philippines, and Bangladesh. This year, the resolution focused specifically on the right to food in the context of climate change. GI-ESCR actively followed the negotiations and provided input into the draft text, in close collaboration with the Geneva Climate Change Consultation Group.

However, we remain concerned about the unwillingness of the core group to take up any language suggestions presented by civil society to the group. Even simple suggestions that were in line with the consensus in the room were not taken up in further drafts of the resolutions. Moreover, we are concerned about the operational paragraph 18 requesting action from the independent UN Special Rapporteur on climate change and the absence of any reference to the newly acknowledged human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

The resolution was adopted without a vote. Click here to read it.

Resolution on the right to health

This year’s resolution tabled as “Access to medicines, vaccines and other health products in the context of the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health” was headed by Brazil, China, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Senegal, South Africa, and Thailand. The resolution’s novelty is the adding of health products to the list of services and products to be offered to guarantee the right to health while calling for a flexible application of the TRIPS Agreement. As GI-ESCR. we have been pushing for a more inclusive language on women and girls and to include language around public services, including health services within the resolution.

The resolution was adopted without a vote. Click here to read it.

Resolution on the elimination of all discrimination against women and girls

This annual resolution was tabled by Mexico, Argentina, and Chile and had a strong focus on the participation of women and girls this year. The resolution faced strong resistance from some countries, namely Nigeria, Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Russia, and Mauritania, with 10 tabled amendments to the resolution and 10 informal consultations necessary to finalise the resolution. GI-ESCR promoted more language around the climate crisis and the inclusion of indigenous women in the resolution.

The resolution was adopted without a vote. All amendments were rejected by vote. Click here to read the resolution

Side Events

GI-ESCR organised three side events at this 50th HRC session.

On a gender-just green transition

GI-ESCR, in co-sponsorship with the Geneva Climate Change consultation group (GeCCco) and International Women's Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP), organized an online event called “Leading the Way towards a Just Green Transition: Using Economic, Social and Cultural Rights as a Guiding Compass”. The discussion was led by Astrid Puentes, independent expert on climate change, Rodrigo Echecopar, Strategy and Advocacy Director at GI-ESCR, Natalia Gomez Pe?a, climate change policy adviser at Earth Rights International, and Kayinga Muddu Yisito, Network Coordinator of Community Transformation Foundation Network (COTFONE).

For more information on the session, click here.

On gender-transformative public services

In light of Public Services Day during HRC50, GI-ESCR, in collaboration with Public Services International, organised a side event called “From gender-responsive to gender-transformative public services. Public services as a tool to promote gender equality”. The session was led by Rossella Falco, GI-ESCR’s Programme Officer on the right to health, Corina Rodr?guez, member of the executive committee of Development Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), Rosa Pavanelli, General Secretary of Public Services International (PSI), and Chenai Mukumba, Policy Research and Advocacy Manager at Tax Justice Network Africa
For more information on the session, click here.

On Public Services Delivery

GI-ESCR was invited to join a panel organised by the Permanent Missions of Azerbaijan and Malaysia on Public Services Delivery and Human Rights: Advancing Towards the Sustainable Development Goals. The event was held in collaboration with the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR). Ashnia Mtsumi, GI-ESCR’s Programme Officer on Public Services and Africa Representative focused her intervention on how commercialisation of public services eroded their capacity to serve everyone, especially marginalised and vulnerable groups. She also highlighted how the climate crisis and the COVID pandemic have emphasised the flaws with this approach and the urgent imperative to reclaim and reinvest in publicly governed and financed public services for the realisation of human rights and for resilient, just societies able to respond to the crises.

Learn more about this session here.

On Chile’s Constitutional Process

In light of the publication of the final draft of the new Chilean constitution, GI-ESCR, in collaboration with the Geneva Academy, organised a side event called “Economic, social, and environmental rights in Chile’s constitutional process”. The event was led by Dr. Magdalena Sep?lveda Carmona, GI-ESCR’s Executive Director, Dr. Christophe Golay, Senior Research Fellow and Strategic Adviser on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the Geneva Academy., Dr. Javier Couso, Professor of Law at the?Universidad Diego Portales?in Santiago, Chile, and Professor of Global Trends in Constitutionalism at the?University of Utrecht, Netherlands, Dr. Koldo Casla, Lecturer in Law and the Director of the Human Rights Centre Clinic, University of Essex (UK)., and MSc Valentina Contreras, Representative in Chile of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

For more information on the session, click here.

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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.