Submission to the Annual Meeting of UN Special Rapporteurs

The 1st Latin America Summit for Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable Global Taxation will be held in Cartagena de Indias, Colombia on 27 and 28 July (2023). The aim of the Initiative is to enable countries from the region to mobilise the maximum available resources through fiscal cooperation. Increasing the fiscal space is much needed in the region to finance quality public services and to address the climate emergency. This is a timely call for Latin America, which would also help build a regional bloc towards global tax negotiations, such as to the ongoing discussions related to the UN Tax Convention and the OECD two-pillar solution.

As a part of a regional campaign, GI-ESCR, together with Oxfam International, Tax Justice Network, Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, Fundar (Mexico), ACIJ (Argentina), CELS (Argentina), DeJusticia (Colombia), and CESR submitted a written report to the Annual Meeting of Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Chairpersons of Working Groups of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council.

The submission, presented by a GI-ESCR representative, at the in-person meeting at the Palais Wilson in Geneva on 16 June, highlighted the opportunities arising in Latin America for building a regional fiscal pact aligned with State’s human rights obligations. It also requested UN Special Procedures to send an open letter calling Latin American countries to comply with their fiscal human rights obligations at the national and extraterritorial levels in the context of the forthcoming Fiscal Summit in Cartagena de Indias and related tax negotiations. The Special Rapporteurs, Independent Experts and Chairpersons of Working Groups of the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council welcomed the request, for example, Attiya Waris, Independent Expert on foreign debt, other international financial obligations and human rights,  higlighted the fiscal implications of human rights, and Farida Shaheed, Special Rapporteur on the right to education, also highlighted the importance of taxation for the fulfillment of economic, social and cultural rights.

This is a unique chance for Latin America and the Caribbean to strengthen coordination on tax issues for the first time in history and join forces to build a better future for the region, built on less inequality and poverty.