Human rights and economics are not often spoken about in the same breath. Yet increasingly, human rights actors are calling for a shift towards a rights-based or human-rights economy. One that puts the economy truly at the service of communities contending with extreme social and economic inequality, climate catastrophe and corporate abuses.
The economies we live in structure our daily experiences and represent systems which can profoundly affect our ability to enjoy our rights to decent work, adequate healthcare, political participation, freedom from violence and more. This book systematizes academic and practitioners' analyses and experiences, drawing from different epistemologies, literatures and case studies, to flesh out what a rights-based economy would look like, and the tools and actions - economic, legal, environmental and social - needed to get there.
Edited by:
Marianna Leite,
Matti Kohonen
Imprint: Agenda Publishing
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions:
Height: 234mm,
Width: 156mm,
Spine: 18mm
ISBN: 9781788216876
ISBN 10: 1788216873
Pages: 256
Publication Date: 22 February 2024
Audience:
College/higher education
,
Professional and scholarly
,
Primary
,
Undergraduate
Format: Paperback
Publisher's Status: Active
Foreword by Tomás Pascual Ricke, Ambassador and Director of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile Human Rights Economy for People and the Planet: Framing the Contours of an Approach, Jyoti Sanghera 1. Introduction: what it means to “right the economy” and why we need it now Marianna Leite and Matti Kohonen Part I Framing the economy 2. Towards a Rights-Based Economy: post-growth economics and the future of welfare Olivier De Schutter 3. The Center for Economic and Social Rights’ journey to advance a rights-based economy Center for Economic and Social Rights 4. Business and human rights: from “tokenism” to “centring” rights and rightsholders Surya Deva and Harpreet Kaur 5. A human rights economy approach as the basis for a global fiscal architecture Attiya Waris 6. Macroeconomic policy and development agenda for a Rights-Based Economy Pedro Rossi 7. Financial complicity and human rights: exploring the legal and policy landscape of responsibility for sovereign debt Celine Tan and Rafael Quintero Godinez Part II Transforming the economy 8. Illicit financial flows, tax havens and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights Asha Ramgobin 9. Social and solidarity economy as an alternative economy for the protection of human rights Ilcheong Yi 10. Judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights as a way to challenge neoliberalism: post-2008 austerity in Europe Kári Hólmar Ragnarsson 11. Health and human rights: what are the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic? Jasmine Gideon and Kate Bayliss 12. From recovery to transformation? Assessing Argentina’s Covid-19 economic response through a feminist lens Magalí Brosio and Edurne Cárdenas 13. A feminist and decolonial global Green New Deal: principles, paradigms and systemic transformations Bhumika Muchhala 14. Conclusion: “righting the economy” and building on plural and decolonial models to curtail the effects of negative corporate practice Matti Kohonen and Marianna Leite
Matti Kohonen is executive director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, a group of 11 international civil society organisations. Before joining the FTC, he worked for Christian Aid, Oxfam and the Tax Justice Network. He holds a PhD in sociology from the London School of Economics and is the co-editor of Tax Justice: Putting Global Inequality on the Agenda (2009). Marianna Leite is ACT Alliance’s Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager. As a lawyer, researcher and activist, she has over 15 years of professional experience across the legal, academic and development sectors. She holds a post-doctorate certificate in Human Rights and Democracy from the Faculty of Law of University of Coimbra and a PhD in Development Studies from Birkbeck, University of London.
Reviews for Righting the Economy: Towards a People's Recovery from Economic and Environmental Crisis
This stimulating book calls for the disruption of the forces that produce economies that manifestly fail to fulfil human rights and the reassembly of economies that will fulfil these rights, drawing on human rights norms and institutions, and a wide range of innovative ideas about economic alternatives. It offers new thinking for both practitioners and academics and will be indispensable reading for courses on human rights, political economy, and social and economic policy. -- Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex and Chair, Commission on a Gender Equal Economy The human rights framework is not fixed or uniform; it is dynamic and designed to adapt in response to the diverse assertions and perceptions of injustice among us as human beings. The contributions to this book push the agenda forward to keep thinking and enabling human rights to effectively address the ever-growing and pressing demands of the current moment. -- Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor of Women's and Gender and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University
