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Chile: Hacia la garantía de la Dignidad

Chile: Hacia la garantía de la Dignidad

Hacia la garantía de la dignidad

De Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona, directora ejecutiva de GI-ESCR y ex-Relatora especial de las Naciones Unidas sobre la extrema pobreza y los derechos humanos (2008-2014).

Ver la cobertura mediática de este artículo más abajo.

Ayer Chile concurrió a las urnas a dar una cátedra de participación ciudadana. A pesar de todos los obstáculos, incluyendo la pandemia que nos azota, la ciudadanía utilizó el proceso democrático para decir alto y claro: se debe reemplazar la Constitución impuesta durante la dictadura cívico-militar y construir un nuevo pacto social que distribuya el poder, establezca reglas justas de vida en común y proteja de mejor manera los derechos de todas y todos.

Sin embargo, las elecciones de ayer son solo el inicio. Construir un sistema económico y social capaz de procesar las demandas ciudadanas que por décadas han sido despreciadas y negadas por las élites políticas y económicas requiere de cambios profundos que no serán fáciles de lograr. Uno de los próximos pasos críticos es conseguir que los derechos sociales continúen al centro del debate.

Los derechos sociales incluyen la salud, vivienda, educación, medio ambiente, seguridad social, agua y saneamiento. En Chile, la exigencia de un mayor reconocimiento y garantía de estos derechos ha sido el núcleo de las demandas ciudadanas, manifestadas a través de diversos movimientos sociales, así como en los encuentros locales autoconvocados que se establecieron durante el proceso constituyente del año 2016. Este clamor ciudadano no hizo más que agudizarse con las protestas masivas y territorialmente extendidas que se iniciaron en octubre 2019.

Sin embargo, la inclusión de los derechos sociales en el nuevo texto constitucional no está garantizada. En Chile, por más de 40 años se han construido mitos acerca de la infalibilidad del mercado;, del “goteo” o el crecimiento económico como único mecanismo para sacar de la pobreza a los más marginados y de la privatización como fuente de eficiencia económica y bienestar para todos. Por décadas las élites no han escatimado esfuerzos para tratar de convencer que los derechos sociales no son verdaderos “derechos”, y que no es necesario ni viable garantizarlos en la Constitución. Son estos mitos los que ahora toca desbancar a través de evidencia, la experiencia comparada y la organización colectiva.

Estos no son los únicos desafíos. Consagrar los derechos sociales de acuerdo a los estándares internacionales requiere, por un lado, fomentar un proceso participativo que refleje la diversidad del país y permita que las voces de los grupos históricamente desventajados tengan incidencia directa en el proceso constitucional. Por otro lado, lograr la reorganización del poder y sus instituciones políticas para que sirvan de garante a estos derechos.

El reconocimiento de los derechos sociales en la nueva Constitución no es una bala de plata. Su inclusión no solucionará de la noche a la mañana los problemas económicos, las carencias materiales ni las brechas sociales. Sin embargo, el resultado electoral de ayer nos ha colocado en la senda para la construcción de un país más justo. El reconocimiento y garantía constitucional de los derechos sociales empodera, emancipa y dignifica, tanto a individuos como a comunidades. Además, nos abre la puerta para el establecimiento de mecanismos de rendición de cuentas y para la elaboración de políticas sociales dirigidas a realizar los derechos.

A modo de ejemplo, para avanzar en una sociedad que brinde igualdad de oportunidades, la nueva Constitución debería no solo consagrar el derecho a la educación, sino que también todos sus elementos mínimos tales como calidad, inclusividad y adaptación cultural. Asimismo, se debe priorizar la educación pública por sobre la libertad de enseñanza. Ciudades más integradas, sostenibles e inclusivas, requieren de una garantía constitucional del derecho a la vivienda. Este derecho debiera incorporar la gestión democrática del hábitat, relevar el interés general y garantizar una gobernanza urbana que descentralice, desconcentre y reorganice el poder dentro de nuestras ciudades. Por último, en materia de género, es necesario garantizar la igualdad de género como derecho fundamental. Esto obliga a diseñar políticas públicas que tengan en cuenta los obstáculos estructurales y las experiencias cotidianas de mujeres, hombres y las diversidades presentes en el territorio.

Con esta votación histórica la ciudadanía ha expresado sin vacilación, que los derechos humanos son indivisibles. Que una vida digna no se limita a ejercer el derecho a voto, y requiere que todas y todos podamos vivir una vida sin temor ni incertidumbres. Sin el temor paralizante de no tener dinero para pagar una enfermedad grave o un parto; de no tener una pensión de vejez; que te puedan despedir de tu trabajo de manera arbitraria; que tus hijos no puedan tener la educación que merecen o la desoladora incertidumbre de una olla sin comida y una billetera vacía. Hoy, se ha dado el primer paso para construir una constitución que refleje la sociedad donde queremos vivir: sin los privilegios desmedidos de unos pocos y en pleno respeto de la dignidad de todos los habitantes.

Este artículo también fue publicado en:

Chile | El Mostrador

Mexico | Mexico Social

Peru | La Mula

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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.