Skip to Content

Kathryn Sikkink book cites CESR's call for a "tax policy for human rights"

News and Events

Tags:

Corporate tax

Fiscal justice

Policy reform

Countries:

United States

Region:
Global

In her new book, Evidence for Hope: Making Human Rights Work in the 21st Century, Kathryn Sikkink writes that CESR is one of several ESCR advocacy groups increasingly pointing to tax havens as a major contributor to states not having the available resources to provide adequate economic and social rights. 

She writes:

The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) works on tax avoidance and evasion, which it sees as a systemic drain on government revenues needed for the fulfillment of human rights. They are one of a number of human rights organizations that have started to grapple with what it might mean to have a tax policy for human rights, including efforts to shut down tax havens. CESR argues that "Taxation is a crucial instrument for the realization of human rights, not just because it is necessary for enduring sufficient resources, but also because tax policy plays a fundamental role in redressing inequalities and in shaping how accountable governments are to their people."

Critics of human rights work argue that the movement is in serious jeopardy or may be a problematic byproduct of Western imperialism. Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, offers decades of research and fieldwork to provide a rebuttal to doubts about human rights laws and institutions. Sikkink demonstrates that while change comes slowly, in the long term, human rights movements have been vastly effective.
 
Purchase the book here.
 
Back to top