GATJ tax and gender working group and partners made the following two submissions: Factsheet on TaxJustice for Women´s rights and GATJ tax and gender positions to the UN independent expert on foreign debt and human rights.

This was in response to his call for contributions to enrich his report on the links and the impact of economic reforms and austerity measures on women’s human rights.

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The Human Rights Council resolution 34/3 (2017) requested the Independent Expert to develop guiding principles for human rights impact assessments for economic reform policies, in consultation with States, international financial institutions and other relevant stakeholders. In line with his 2017 thematic report on structural adjustment and labour rights (A/HRC/34/57), the Independent Expert prepared a first report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/37/54) in which he describes the evolution in structural adjustment responses to financial crises and mitigation of adverse social impact and explains how structural adjustment programmes affect human rights. He argues that, for both economic and legal reasons, economic reform programmes must be inclusive and advance human rights for which a set of guiding principles can make a positive difference.

In order to deepen his research, based on expert consultations, it was necessary to circulate a call for contributions and submissions.

Our submission highlights the GATJ tax and gender working group’s positions on the negative impact of the current neoliberal policies on the rights of women living in poverty, especially in the Global South. The submission also looks at particular ways in which austerity measures, structural adjustment, fiscal consolidation and in general economic reform programmes have had a disproportionate impact on the life of women of all ages and what to do to address the negative impacts. Budget cuts, austerity measures, and privatization of public services, and deregulation of labour have hit women particularly hard even as governments explore domestic resource mobilize and to maximize resources to fund public services and for structural transformation.

The submission is meant to inform his report on the lived realities of women and the impact of economic reforms and austerity measures on women’s human rights.