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The Abidjan Principles Implementation

ISSUE

The last twenty years have witnessed a massive and unprecedented increase of private providers of social services – such as education, health, and water – worldwide, as well as an increase of private actors in other forms, such as through the financialisation of the funding of public services.

GI-ESCR works to ensure that the changes that are taking place do not exacerbate inequality, ensure inclusion of the most disadvantaged, and are done with respect of human rights standards. It also works to develop alternative solutions and narratives to the dominant market paradigms. The aim is to seek redress to the imbalances of power that often result from the privatisation of the delivery of public services.

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ACTION

GI-ESCR played a leading role in the development and adoption of the 'Abidjan Principles on the Human rights Obligations of States to Provide Public Education and to Regulate Private Involvement in Education' (Abidjan Principles). From the initial research and discussions, to establishing the Secretariat and Drafting Committee, GI-ESCR has worked with partners to catalyse the development process of the Abidjan Principles. In many domestic, regional and international spaces, GI-ESCR monitors developments to advocate for the integration of human rights, and the Abidjan Principles, into key strategies and policies. Through a broadly consultative and inclusive approach, GI-ESCR seeks to use the Abidjan Principles as a tool to leverage a large mobilisation for public services, to develop strong rights-based counter-narratives and solutions, and to help individuals and communities to demand legal and political accountability.

RESULT

In February 2019, the Abidjan Principles were adopted by over 50 eminent experts on the right to education, following a three-year consultative process with decision-makers, communities and practitioners. This landmark text is quickly becoming one of the reference instruments on the right to education in the context of the growing privatisation and commercialisation of education worldwide and is increasingly considered as a potential game-changer for public services. The Abidjan Principles have been endorsed by civil society organisations and have been recognised as a tool for States to ensure the realisation of the right to education by the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the United Nations Human Rights Council and the High Commissioner for Human Rights. The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education also endorsed the Abidjan Principles and in her June 2019 report she discusses how they can be used for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on education.

A few months after adoption, there are already encouraging and important outcomes. The Abidjan Principles have been recognised by the Global Partnership for Education (GPE)’s private sector engagement strategy (2019), which could influence the allocation of billions of dollars in development aid. Civil society organisations around the world are mobilised to use the Abidjan Principles through trainings and engagement with States. The right to education has come back to the core of policy debates in education, as seen for instance recently at a public debate at the UNESCO specialised education agency. Litigation using the Abidjan Principles is on-going in several countries, including a case already won in Uganda.

INFLUENCING DEVELOPMENT AID

The Abidjan Principles influence the policies of major education donors such as the Global Partnership for Education, the largest global fund dedicated to education and the International Finance Corporation, the corporate arm of the World Bank. Both of which decide to move away from for-profit education investments, in June 2019 and April 2020.

LANDMARK DECISION BY INTERNATIONAL FINANCE CORPORATION REGARDING BRIDGE INTERNATIONAL ACADEMIES

In October 2019, following a complaint of 10 Kenyan citizens legally supported by GI-ESCR, the Compliance Adviser Ombudsman (CAO) issues a preliminary finding raising “substantial concerns” about the International Finance Corporation (IFC) investment into Bridge International Academies (BIA).
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ACTIVITIES

In collaboration with partners, GI-ESCR engages in activities around the globe, including South Africa (May 2019), Nepal (October 2019), Thailand (October 2019) and Saudi Arabia (February 2020). These workshops convened representatives from local governments, youth groups, teachers and civil society organisations. Several other similar workshops are planned with partners around the world, based on their demands.

In Washington, DC., with the support of GI-ESCR, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to education, a signatory and champion of the Abidjan Principles, attended meetings with Executive Directors at the World Bank Annual Meetings to call on States to use the Abidjan Principles in their assessment of education project funding.

In Paris, GI-ESCR staff discussed the Abidjan Principles as a tool to move the right to education from rhetoric into action at the international, and national levels during UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning (IIEP) strategic debate series, ‘Breaking Barriers in Education’.

At the global level, GI-ESCR, in collaboration with partners, actively engaged with the Global Partnership for Education (GPE) during the development of the private sector engagement strategy (2019). The adopted policy refers to, and largely reflects the Abidjan Principles, prohibiting the use of funding for for-profit provision of core education services, with few exceptional circumstances. GI-ESCR continues to actively engage in the policy discussions around the exceptional circumstances, to ensure these are in line with the Abidjan Principles.

GI-ESCR is also working with a range of States, such as Ivory Coast and France, and international institutions, such as UNESCO and the Francophonie organisation, to develop tools and conduct advocacy towards policymakers. GI-ESCR is, additionally, developing a range of other tools, including a commentary, as well as simplified versions and briefs of the Abidjan Principles for various audiences and in different languages.

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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.