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ESCR In Chile's Constitutional Process

Since 2019, GI-ESCR’s action in Chile has aimed to promote rights-respecting, gender-inclusive and climate-sensitive alternatives for Chile’s ongoing constitutional process and economic policy debates. 

GI-ESCR used international experience in other human rights and feminist frameworks to provide technical assistance to Chilean partners and helped them influence discussions on the new constitution.

GI-ESCR worked together with partners on the ground to encourage the exchange of experiences in social and economic policies between Chile and international actors. That reciprocity helped Chilean partners push for a rights-respecting, gender-inclusive and climate-sensitive agenda.

 

We will continue to push our work throughout Latin America, with an emphasis on developing advocacy that promotes rights-based fiscal policy. This means that decisions about how states raise and spend their resources are oriented towards the fulfilment of people's social rights. Thus, we will seek to generate spaces for reflection and debate on international standards and best comparative practices in terms of constitutional principles for a fiscal policy with a rights-based approach, as well as linking civil society organisations on issues of fiscal policy and social rights.

In this chapter you will find an overview of our work in Chile over the past three years. These are the initiatives we have developed so far to promote economic and social rights, in alliance with civil society organizations at the local, national and global levels.

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THESE ARE THE INITIATIVES WE HAVE DEVELOPED SO FAR TO PROMOTE ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS, IN ALLIANCE WITH CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS AT THE LOCAL, NATIONAL AND GLOBAL LEVELS

Regarding the advancement of public services and fiscal policy, 2021 ended with the formal presentation of a popular initiative of constitutional norm that we did along with 19 other organisations in Chile, such as Public Services International, Fundación Ciudadanía Inteligente and the Center for Economic and Social Rights, among many others.

On early January 2022, and after passing a thorough admissibility process, the proposal was officially published by the Constitutional Convention to start the signature recollection campaign. As per statutory norms, every popular initiative proposal should gather at least 15.000 signatures to be included in the official constitutional debate. After a strong mobilisation of organisations and trade unions where GI-ESCR played a crucial role, the proposal collected 16,388 signatures which exceeded the required threshold, as well as being also supported by 12 constitutional convention representatives as an internal proposal.

This success enabled GI-ESCR and partners to participate in the constitutional debate, bringing the narrative of the importance of public services in meeting basic needs for a dignified life and the need of a fair and human rights-based fiscal policy to provide long term funding, directly to the Environment, Nature Rights, Natural Common Goods and Economic Model and the Form of State Commissions.

After 4 months of intense advocacy work, on April 12, the normative proposal on universal quality public services presented by GI-ESCR’s Chile team and partners was successfully included in the draft of the Constitutional Convention with 144 –out of 154– votes. This meant that the work of bringing the content of the Global Manifesto for Public Services and the Principles for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy for the first time in the world was subjected to popular scrutiny as an integral part of the draft constitution.

In addition to the Constitutional Convention advocacy, in April, and together with Public Services International (PSI), we organised a two-day event in Santiago aimed to debate and promote universal and quality public services as the foundations of a just and equitable society. The event was attended by Chile’s Government Authorities, civil society organizations, and trade unions affiliated with PSI in Chile and in Latin America and the Caribbean and included a round of preparatory meetings with the Minister Secretary General of the Presidency of Chile, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the Minister of Labour.

Our role in mainstreaming the topics of public services and fiscal policy in the constitutional process was highlighted by several media outlets such as Diario UChile, El Desconcierto, Página 19, El Mostrador, G5 Noticias, Crónica Digital and Bianet (Turkey). Regarding gender equality, last year’s report gave an account of the production of the “Más que Juanitas” report; a document that highlighted 28 points a new constitution needed to fully incorporate women’s economic, social, cultural and environmental rights. Throughout 2022, we advocated for this text to be taken into account by the Constitutional Convention by printing the posters and sending them to all its female representatives and calling them to use the checklist provided by the report. We also used the document to participate in several events convened by partners such as Humanas and Miles Chile. We also partnered with local and regional media outlets such as Infobae, El Mostrador and El Ciudadano to disseminate our narratives around the articles a constitution can include guaranteeing gender equality and the ways in which the Constitutional Convention could change women’s life experiences through quality public services.

Specifically, for the commemoration of March 8th, we published three op-eds regarding the close link between gender and environmental and energetic participation in Latin America (Mexico Social and RED/ACCION), how the feminist strike can help recognise and reinvent the role of care in Latin America (El País) and the draft of a feminist constitution in Chile (El País).

Finally, regarding justiciability, we partnered with the OHCHR to convene several international human rights experts such as Soledad García Muñoz (IACHR), Christian Courtis (UN) and Julieta Rossi (UN) and record short videos around the importance of having a strong

justiciability system to protect, respect and fulfil economic, social and cultural rights. This material was officially distributed to the members of the Constitutional Convention, particularly those who took part on the Justice Systems Commission.

Issue

On 25th October 2020, Chileans were called to decide on the biggest change in the country since democracy was reestablished in 1990. They voted on a referendum that would determine the elaboration of a new constitution.

Our Approch

GI-ESCR focuses on informing and influencing debates on the new constitution from the perspective of gender, economic, social, and cultural rights.

The majority of citizens voted in favour of a new constitution, a text that should reflect a new reality for a society still ruled until then by a constitution drafted under the 1973-1990 dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet.

The law should give voice to a society that last October took to the streets in massive rallies expressing anger and desperation nationwide. Nobody thought at that time that the rise in Santiago’s metro fare would cause such an outcome, but that was just the tip of the iceberg.

The extreme inequalities of the country led to this “Chilean awakening,” which achieved strong international support. The success around the globe of the anthem ‘A rapist in your path,’ performed by the feminist band Las Tesis, was proof.

Women, along with young generations and indigenous communities, are in fact one of the social groups that are most affected by inequality in Chile. Despite the image of prosperity of the country, a substantial proportion of the population has not benefited from economic progress.

It’s true that after three decades of stable growth, controlled inflation and falling poverty rates, Chile now has Latin America’s highest income per capita. But it remains the most unequal of the OECD countries, with an income gap that is about 65% higher than average.

Chile’s most disadvantaged people are struggling with high living costs, lack of social protection, low wages, and segregationist housing policies. In addition to this, the privatization of pensions and healthcare systems, and an underfunding of education, undermine opportunities for vulnerable groups.

That is the case of women, who suffer from lower wages and, therefore, lower pensions. The privatization of the education system has also led to social exclusion of girls from poorer families.

A feminist, more inclusive analysis of economic and social policies is necessary to ensure that the new constitution enables substantive gender equality and human rights in the country. In this context, it is crucial to support those groups who are demanding transformative changes.

The importance of the Chilean case transcends national boundaries because it is an example of how neoliberal policies and privatization of public services led to extreme inequality across the globe. That is why this would be a major victory not only for rights holders in Chile, but also in many other countries.

The goal is to achieve better management of public services – particularly education, health, water and sanitation, and social security. We support and collaborate with feminist movements and organizations to ensure that women’s rights are placed at the center of the public agenda in the constitutional discussions.

In collaboration with partners, GI-ESCR elaborates and distributes technical briefings and advocacy materials to raise awareness of economic inequality and the negative impact of certain public policies on women’s rights.

We also use international human rights and gender equality processes to promote gender-inclusive and climate sensitive solutions.

To increase global scrutiny on Chile and pressure the national government and other institutions, GI-ESCR advocates in regional and international rights spaces to amplify citizen demands, in particular from women and groups traditionally excluded from national debates.  

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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.