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Using Human Rights Law
to End Social & Economic Injustice

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Together with partners around the world, we work to achieve
a world in which every person and community lives in dignity
and in harmony with nature.

We are constantly looking for innovative ways to advance social and economic justice, gender equality and human dignity. 
We see our work as a cycle, an upward spiral of iterative and cumulative change in which local and global actions influence and benefit each other.

GI-ESCR’s Theory Of Change

We are a small and agile organisation. Our theory of change focuses on our capacity to shape the larger ecosystem that determines decision-making. GI-ESCR identifies concerns and issues that fall within our mandate and tools that add value.

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On The Ground

Latest News

The joint submission proposes concrete language to align the emerging Convention with international human rights law and strengthen its contribution to sustainable development. Together with Amnesty...
On the ground
We contributed to the submission presented by the Women and Gender Constituency (WGC) on the operationalisation of the Belém–Antalya Mechanism (BAM), a new institutional arrangement under the UNFCCC...
On the ground
On 27 February 2026, the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) released its Concluding Observations on Kenya following the country’s sixth periodic review under...
On the ground
We recently participated in two webinars organised by the Latin American and Caribbean Network for a Sustainable Financial System (REDFIS) as part of the network’s Tax and Climate workstream, which...
On the ground
We contributed to several civil society submissions to the negotiations of the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation in the lead-up to the Fifth Session of the Intergovernmental...
On the ground
On 6 March 2026, GI-ESCR, in collaboration with Hakijamii and The Institute of Social Accountability (TISA), convened a breakaway session titled “Closer to the People? Rethinking Debt, Devolution...
On the ground
The Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC) has released its Concluding Observations on Ghana’s combined sixth and seventh periodic reports, expressing some concerns and issuing recommendations...
On the ground
From 16 to 20 February 2026, 10 Kenyan civil society representatives gathered in Machakos County for a training workshop convened by EACHRights to establish and operationalise the National CSO...
On the ground
Kenya formally adopted the outcomes of its 4th Universal Periodic Review (UPR) before the UN Human Rights Council in October 2025, marking the beginning of the country's transition from commitments...
On the ground
On 9 February, Chile promulgated the ‘Chile Cuida’ law, creating the National System of Support and Care. The law recognises care as a social right and affirms social and gender co-responsibility as...
On the ground
The Committee on the Rights of the Child has issued its Concluding Observations on Colombia’s combined sixth and seventh periodic reports, reaffirming several critical recommendations that closely...
On the ground
During the Fourth Session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, held from 2–13 February 2026 at the UN Headquarters in New...
On the ground

Women's Rights

Latest video

We believe public services are essential for ensuring the enjoyment of economic, social and cultural rights. We monitor the impacts of privatisation and commercialisation on these services, expose abuses when they occur, demand that those responsible are held accountable, and promote alternative arrangements aligned with human rights.
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Our Work

Latest Publications

States' Human Rights Obligations to Finance Public Services: A Focus on Education and Health This legal brief highlights States' legal obligations under international and African human rights law to...
Publications
This publication argues that climate finance is not a matter of political goodwill but a binding legal obligation under international climate law, human rights law and general international law, and...
Publications
This publication examines the just transition negotiations at COP30 in Belém, situating them within the broader evolution of the Just Transition Work Programme since its establishment at COP27 and...
Publications
2024 CESCR Yearbook The Work of the Committee on Economic, Social & Cultural Rights The 2024 CESCR Yearbook shows a Committee operating under heavy constraints, as the UN liquidity crisis forced the...
Publications
This report examines the social and human rights impacts of austerity and debt-driven fiscal policies in Ghana, with a particular focus on the health and education sectors. It demonstrates how loan...
Publications
This report examines the social and human rights impacts of austerity and debt-driven fiscal policies in Kenya, with a particular focus on the health and education sectors. It demonstrates how loan...
Publications
This report, published jointly with the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD), provides a global overview of just transition policies and examines what is needed to...
Publications
The Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition are a collective effort, developed through a series of online consultations, an in-person workshop at the 15th...
Publications
This publication focuses on the design of the Second Protocol on tax dispute prevention and resolution....
Publications
This publication focuses on legal and procedural lessons from past multilateral treaties to inform the design of the Second Protocol on tax dispute prevention and resolution....
Publications
This publication argues that the UN Tax Convention offers a vital chance to shift global tax governance towards greater transparency and justice, aligning taxation with human rights obligations....
Publications
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...
Publications

Our work

Priority Areas

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We identify concerns and issues and work on them, assembling evidence and arguments that lead to new narratives. Transformative narratives together with broad social coalitions have the power to strengthen the institutional human rights framework, influence public and institutional attitudes, and change thinking.
Most of our activities and programmes are intersectional and cross-cutting. 

SEE ALL OUR WORK
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Public Services & Private actors
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Strengthening ESC rights frameworks
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Addressing the climate emergency
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Public finance and Tax reform
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Gender equality and women´s ESC rights
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Public Services & Private actors
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Public finance and Tax reform
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Strengthening ESC rights frameworks
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Gender equality and women´s ESC rights
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Addressing the climate emergency

Where we are

With our partners, we think and act, globally and locally, where our work at one level is enriched by, and strengthens and supports, our work at other levels.

We are present in

Where we worked in

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Support us

If you enjoy our work, please consider making a donation!

No amount is too small. Your contribution will help us fight for transformative change to end endemic problems of social and economic injustice.
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Contact

We would like to hear about your concerns, initiatives and resources that we can help develop to establish economic, social and cultural rights as an essential point of reference for reforming the institutions that govern our societies.
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Volunteering

We are always looking for volunteers. Whether you have a background in legal work, communications, translation or design, join the movement. To inquire about volunteering with us email: info@gi-escr.org
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Partner with us

We value relationships and partnerships highly. They are at the core of GI-ESCR’s methodology and are critical to establishing and realising human rights.
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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.