Submission to the OHCHR on the impact of IFI conditionalities

For decades, international financial institutions have pushed economic policies that prioritize fiscal targets and debt repayments while squeezing the resources governments need to guarantee people’s rights.

In a new submission to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), CESR argues that IFI conditionalities are not neutral technical prescriptions. Austerity, cuts to public services, subsidy removal and regressive taxation are political choices with profound consequences for human rights, particularly for women and communities already facing structural inequality.

In the submission, we call for a fundamental shift: human rights must shape economic decision-making from the outset, not be treated as an afterthought once the damage is done. That means mandatory human rights and gender impact assessments, real participation and transparency, progressive alternatives to austerity, and meaningful accountability for IFIs and their member states.

The challenge is not simply to make austerity less harmful. It is to transform economic governance so that it serves human rights, equality and justice.