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Social Rights In Chile's Constitutional Debate

ISSUE

It is a moment of change. After the fast advance of the global free-market agenda during the last four decades, the neoliberal paradigm is increasingly questioned by its outcomes: growing socioeconomic inequalities and massive ecological degradation. Moreover, the side-effects of deregulation of the economy and privatisation of public services have jeopardised the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights around the globe.

Chile is now part of the tidal wave against laissez-faire policies and a pivotal point to drive new frameworks and institutional alternatives to move beyond the neoliberal hegemony. The call for greater recognition and guarantee of ESC rights has been at the heart of citizens’ demands, expressed through successive waves of social unrest, the unfinished constitutional process of 2016, and the social uprising in 2019 that led the democratic and participatory drafting of a new Constitution for the first time in the history of the country.

In this context, GI-ESCR has been working closely with partners at the international, regional, and national level, to promote the recognition of ESC rights in Chile’s constitutional debates.

Action

Our theory of change focuses on our capacity to facilitate the discussion within the larger ecosystem of stakeholders that determines decision making. For this purpose, we assembled evidence and developed new narratives, built broad coalitions for advocacy, and mobilised them to promote change in the institutional framework and public opinion.

GATHERING EVIDENCE FOR A NEW NARRATIVE

GI-ESCR has been researching and collaborating with partners since 2019 in setting cutting-edge human rights standards on issues ranging from green transition policies to public services. Through collective work and a focus on international and local experiences, we have:

  • Disseminated to Chilean partners the Global Manifesto for Public Services, created by GI-ESCR and other eight global organisations as a collective vision to mobilise a strong broad-based movement to demand public services for all.

  • Edited and published the book: “Social rights and the Constitutional Moment in Chile”, which convened 53 international experts advocating for the incorporation of economic, social, cultural and environmental rights in the new Constitution.

  • Organised the webinar series “Sin recursos no hay derechos” convening tax and fiscal justice experts with political leaders.

  • Edited and published the book “Más que Juanitas” (More than Juanitas), which compiled for the first time the experiences and views on ESC rights from different groups of women in Chile. More than 30 organisations drafted contents for this publication.

  • Co-organised a meeting with the economist Thomas Piketty and members of the Constitutional Convention to discuss topics of fiscal justice.

All those activities and contents helped us develop a starting point for a new narrative in the Chilean context: the declaration of a list of rights in the new Constitution is not enough to guarantee social rights and foster better living conditions for all. To accomplish that goal, it’s also necessary to include a gender perspective, establish the principles for a progressive fiscal policy and the incorporation of universal and quality public services. Chile risks social rights becoming a dead letter without those elements.

Magdalena Sepúlveda, GI-ESCR's exec. director, interviewed by CNN Chile about the book on social rights.
Meeting between the economist Thomas Piketty and members of the Constitutional Convention.
ESCR's executive director and the constituent Tatiana Urrutia during the launch of the book Más que Juanitas.

BUILDING A MOVEMENT

To advance this agenda, we worked along with other organisations to build and mobilise a coalition around fiscal justice with public sector trade unions, the “Tax and Fiscal Justice Network in Chile”. At the same time GI-ESCR and partners convened trade unions and civil organisations in a civil society assembly for public services. As a result, both networks drafted principles and priorities on these topics for the future Constitution and drew a pathway to bring it into the forefront of the constitutional debate in a successful manner. 

Assemby of organisations for public services, convened by GI-ESCR and PSI.
Workshop for drafting a proposal of constitutional content on public services
Representatives of the Citizen network for Fiscal Policy in Chile

GAINING MOMENTUM

Chile’s Constitutional Convention opened different channels to present proposals for the new chart. One was a citizen participation channel called Popular Initiative of Constitutional Content and another was the Initiative of Constitutional Content where the representatives could present normative proposals. The first mechanism required the collection of, at least, 15,000 citizens signatures for the proposal to be analysed and voted by the Convention. The second path needed the support of at least eight constituents to be discussed.

GI-ESCR and its partners decided to use both mechanisms simultaneously, mobilising one comprehensive initiative on public services and tax justice to guarantee social rights. In January 2022, GI-ESCR and partners unfolded a campaign to collect the 15,000 signatures under the slogan, “Without resources and public services, there are no social rights.” The campaign included social media, media coverage, and street points to collect signatures. GI-ESCR coordinated the campaign, which progressively gathered the support of new social movements and progressive think tanks, which helped spread the word and invite people to sign the petition.

At the same time, GI-ESCR led a round of meetings with members of the constitutional convention to present our proposal and ask for their support within the Convention. We approached 32 of the 154 members of the Convention.

Artwork sample of our campaign for the popular initiative of constitutional content
Gi-ESCR's team in the streets of Santiago, collective signatures for the popular initiative.

RESULT

GI-ESCR and its partners gathered 16,388 signatures supporting the popular initiative, which granted citizens legitimacy to our proposal. Simultaneously, they presented it to the convention with the support of 12 of its members. Therefore, GI-ESCR secured that the Constitutional Convention will discuss and vote on the incorporation of universal and quality public services and fair and progressive fiscal justice provisions.

INFLUENCING THE DEBATE

GI-ESCR also succeeded in influencing public opinion, spotlighting a key and unexplored topic in the constitutional debate through the mobilisation of a diverse group of constitutional representatives across the political spectrum, and diverse civil society organisations around the proposal, including social movements, public sector syndicates, NGOs, think tanks media outlets and academia.

GI-ESCR will continue coordinating the networks on public services and fiscal justice, broadening the range of partnerships and building trustworthy and meaningful relationships with the constitutional representatives that supported the proposal.

ALLIANCES

  • Public Services International

  • Amnesty International Chile

  • Agrupación Nacional de Empleados Fiscales (ANEF)

  • Asociación Nacional de Empleados del Poder Judicial (ANEJUD)

  • Asociación Nacional de Empleados de Impuestos Internos (ANEIICH)

  • Asociación de Fiscalizadores de Impuestos Internos de Chile (AFIICH)

  • Confederación Nacional de Empleados Municipales de Chile (ASEMUCH)

  • Confederación Nacional de Funcionarios de la Salud Municipal (CONFUSAM)

  • Confederación Nacional de Asistentes de la Educación Municipal de Chile (CONFEMUCH)

  • Confederación Nacional de Profesionales Universitarios de los Servicios de Salud (FENPRUSS)

  • Federación Nacional de Trabajadores de las Obras Sanitarias (FENATRAOS)

  • Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente

  • Techo Chile - Fundación Vivienda - CES

  • Amnesty International Chile

  • Instituto Igualdad

  • Fundación Rumbo Colectivo

  • Fundación Nodo XXI

  • Friedrich Ebert Stiftung - FES Chile

  • Corporación Humanas

  • Corporación La Morada

  • Asociación de Familiares y Amigos de Prematuros (ASFAPREM)

  • Tremendas Chile

  • Network for Citizen Participation

  • University of Essex - Human Rights Centre

  • University of Concepción - Programme of Law. Enviroment and Climate Change, and Programme of European Studies

  • ONG FIMA

  • Observatorio Ciudadano

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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.