The current model of global development finance is failing to deliver on human rights. On June 30, 2025, during the 4th Financing for Development Conference in Seville, CESR and partners convened the side event “Rights-Based Development Finance: A Post-Seville Agenda” to set out what must change—and how.
The discussion focused on concrete steps governments and international institutions must take to align fiscal and financial systems with human rights obligations. Participants emphasized the need to move away from regressive financing tools and austerity, and toward equitable tax systems, fair debt rules, and sustained public investment in rights-fulfilling services.
Speakers included:
- Maria Ron Balsera, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
- Leonor Zalabata, Colombian Permanent Representative to the United Nations
- Marcella Favretto, Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
- Camila Barretto Maia, Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)
- Liz Nelson, Tax Justice Network (TJN)
- Sylvain Aubry, Human Rights Watch (HRW)
- Sergio Chaparro, Dejusticia
Grounded in international human rights law, the event emphasized governments’ legal obligation to mobilize the maximum of available resources, including through progressive taxation, development cooperation, and international economic governance, to realize human rights. The well-attended event convened a cross-movement audience of tax justice advocates, human rights defenders, and development and climate actors, affirming that human rights continue to offer a unifying and strategic framework to address the structural inequities at the heart of economic policies.
Our Executive Director, Dr. Maria Ron Balsera emphasized that "the global financial system, shaped by colonial legacies and corporate power, continues to deepen inequality and drive crisis. It is time to transform Financing for Development by centering human rights, redistribution, and multilateralism that works for all."
From tackling tax abuses to securing fiscal space for gender-transformative public services, panelists reinforced that advancing a rights-based approach to development finance is not only necessary but actionable – drawing on recent interventions by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CECSR) and the Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR).