A task force
of human rights organisations and networks have
launched a website devoted to highlighting the globally
growing concern about the impact of financial regulation
on human rights.
The financial crisis harm to conditions of human
rights enjoyment worldwide is well documented. Livelihoods,
poverty, human rights, freedom of expression and
mobility, identity and sexuality have come under
pressure and been radically altered since the financial
crisis.
Especially since the eruption of the Great Recession
in 2008, human rights experts, monitoring bodies,
social movements and diverse civil society organizations
have become increasingly vocal on the connections
between finance and human rights. Earlier this year,
a UN committee in charge of monitoring economic
and social rights issued a letter to governments
expressing concern about the protection of economic
and social rights in the context of austerity programs
implemented in the wake of the crises. Women's organizations
have found that women bear the brunt of these programs
which eliminate or reduce social services.
In the European context, the budget cuts are steps
backward in fulfilling human rights commitments,
and come in the throes of budgetary commitments
of some EUR 4.5 trillion made to rescue financial
institutions. ''Unforeseen levels of spending for
bank rescues highlight the unacceptable injustice
of not placing human rights at the heart of the
financial regulation process -from beginning to
end,'' said Nicholas Lusiani, of CESR. ''Yet, financial
regulation continues to be treated as if human rights
did not need to be part of the discussion,'' said
Aldo Caliari, of Center of Concern, which coordinates
the initiative. ''We have set out to change that.''
The website will serve to capture views from a human
rights perspective on all areas of financial regulation,
such as financial sector taxation, derivatives regulation
and the impact of hedge and private equity funds.
It is being launched on a highly symbolic day that
commemorates the anniversary of the Universal Declaration
on Human Rights. This year's celebrations focus
on the human rights principle of participation in
the decisions which affect people's lives—particularly
pertinent as people worldwide fight to engage in
better oversight of global financial markets. ''Today
of all days we should remember actions and inactions
by governments in regulating financial markets are
to be judged by the same Universal Declaration on
Human Rights that applies to any other government
(and third parties) activity,'' said Roberto Bissio,
of Social Watch.
The website was developed by the ''A bottom up approach
to righting financial regulation'' initiative. Its
members are Association for Women's Rights in Development
(AWID), Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR),
CIVICUS, Center of Concern, ESCR-Net, Development
Alternatives with Women for a New Era (DAWN), IBASE,
Social Watch and the Norwegian Center for Human
Rights.
The website can be accessed at www.rightingfinance.org
Contacts:
Center of Concern:
Aldo Caliari, on aldo@coc.org
or +1 202 635 2757
Center for Economic and Social
Rights: Luke Holland on lholland@cesr.org,
or + 1 718 237 9145
Association for Women's Rights
in Development: Alejandra Scampini Franco
on ascampini@awid.org,
or +598 2 604 6506
December 14, 2012.
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