This legal brief highlights States' legal obligations under international and African human rights law to finance public education and healthcare as part of their duties to fulfil economic, social and cultural rights. It analyses the principles of maximum available resources, progressive realisation and non-retrogression, emphasising that austerity, debt burdens and regressive tax systems cannot justify underinvestment in public services. The brief also stresses that both domestic resource mobilisation and international cooperation are necessary, and presents practical pathways, such as progressive taxation, ending harmful tax incentives and reforming the international financial architecture to ensure adequate, equitable and rights-based financing for public services.

The following document compiles binding and interpretive international and African standards on States’ obligations to finance public services, with a focus on education and health.