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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