GI-ESCR and partners’ proposal on public services made it to the draft of Chile’s new constitution

After four months of intense work, on 12 April, the normative proposal on universal quality public services presented by GI-ESCR’s Chile team and partners was finally included in the draft of Chile’s new constitution.

The text, initially presented as a popular initiative proposal by GI-ESCR, Public Services International (PSI) and several unions from Chile’s public sector and civil society organisations, sought to incorporate a priority duty of the State to guarantee economic, social and cultural rights through democratically and publicly controlled, long-term financed and non-retrogressive public services, drawing from the content of the Global Manifesto for Public Services.

The proposal, which was first presented in the Form of State and Environment commissions, was approved by the Plenary of the Constitutional Convention with 144 –out of 154– votes. This means that the provision on universal and quality public services has become part of the draft of the new constitution that all peoples of Chile will be voting on the exit referendum next September.

On the introduction to the Plenary, Claudio Gómez, Chair of the Form of State Commission, highlighted the article, stating that the proposal “recovers a key concept for the Chilean constitutional tradition: a State that guarantees social rights, which translates into a stable and sufficient financing to implement quality and universal public services”.

Still, there’s work to be done. The proposal about fiscal policy was not fully received by the Form of State Commission, sending a report to the Plenary without any mention to the duty to promote a fair international financial system, the role of fiscal policy in facing the climate crisis and everyone’s duty to contribute to the tax system according their financial capacity. However, the Plenary rejected the Commission’s proposal, meaning that there’s still space to revive the coalition’s popular proposal. 

This proposal, inspired also by the Principles for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, is part of our work in Chile where –according to our Strategic Plan– we seek to reinforce the capacity of national institutional frameworks to tackle social and economic injustice effectively. 

Want to know more? Explore all our work in Chile’s Constitutional Process here.