On May 7th, 2026, the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights (IACHR) issued Resolution 2/2026, on Fiscal Policies and Human rights in the Americas. The resolution comes after several years of demands from CESR and partners in the Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policies calling the Commission to systematize its abundant standards on fiscal policies, bringing them from the margins to the center of human rights. CESR commends the leadership of the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA) in advancing the resolution and leading relevant public debates on the matters, as well as the relevant work of the current and earlier mandateholders of the Rapporteurship in building interpretations, gathering data, and prioritizing issues relate to fiscal policy in the Inter American Human Rights system.
The resolution comes at a crucial moment, where States across the region are struggling to find sustainable solutions for financing core public services, financing climate actions, and securing care systems, often overburdened by unsustainable debt. The standards developed in the resolution provide practical tools to ensure decision making on fiscal policies can deliver on public commitment, and mobilize resources in sustainable, equitable, and transparent manners.
Furthermore, the resolution can provide key insight to advance in discussions on what aligning international tax cooperation with international human rights law means for the future UN Framework on International Tax Cooperation, and adds a key authoritative interpretation on the connection of taxation and human rights after the one provided by the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights on February 2025.