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	How a Rights-Based Economy can help us overcome the challenges of our time by Ohene Ampofo-Anti, Alina Saba CESR, UN Research Institute for Social Development   Sep. 2022   The multiple crises triggered by climate change, the Covid-19 pandemic, unjust economic systems and the conflict in Ukraine has reignited discussions on transforming the current economic system into one that works for both people and the planet.   It is evident that the current neoliberal economic system deprives people of their human rights, fails to deliver social protection and public services to those who need them most, and is having a devastating effect on the well-being of the planet. The move towards a human rights-based economy is essential for building a new eco-social contract.   The world is facing several intersecting crises: a global public health crisis because of Covid-19; an escalating climate catastrophe; a socio-economic crisis as evidenced by growing wealth and income inequality; and most recently, a peace and security crisis due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.   At the same time, the human impacts of failed austerity measures in many countries and spiraling sovereign debt are intensifying, as illustrated by the current crisis in Sri Lanka.   These crises expose fundamental flaws in following the status quo at local, regional and global levels. Now, more than ever, it is evident that the grand schemes of the neoliberal economy such as deregulation, public private partnerships (PPP), austerity and labour flexibilization have been abject failures.   The Covid-19 pandemic and rising food prices are predicted to push almost 263 million people into poverty and the debt repayments of the poorest countries will total a staggering USD 43 billion next year. Meanwhile, billionaire wealth has skyrocketed.   As a result, ever widening circles of people are experiencing the urgency of establishing a new social contract rooted in respect for the well-being of humanity and the planet.   We propose that one possible path toward a renewed social contract is a Rights-Based Economy(RBE). This is an economy designed to guarantee the material, social and environmental conditions necessary for all people to live with dignity on a flourishing planet.   What do human rights bring to the discussion?   RBE departs from the long-held premise that the purpose of the economy should be to extract, consume and accumulate more wealth in the hands of the few at the expense of the many. Instead, RBE creates enabling conditions for both humans and the planet to flourish alongside each other.   RBE consists of five key pillars:   Guaranteeing dignity and well-being for all, at all stages of life.   Ensuring that every person has access to the goods and services necessary to thrive, such as housing, healthcare, food and water.   Pursuing substantive equality while dismantling intersecting inequalities and systems of oppression.   Addressing historical legacies of oppression and the drivers of structural inequality to create greater equity in opportunities and outcomes.   Tackling power imbalances in the economy.   Fundamentally shifting power from corporations to communities and rewriting the rules that have made the playing field so uneven and created massive obstacles to social mobility.   Working in harmony with nature, not exploiting it.   Pursuing a developmental pathway which values the intrinsic worth of nature and nurtures respect for the earth’s natural systems, learning from indigenous knowledge and practices.   Democratizing and decolonizing the global economy   Radically transforming institutions and systems of global economic governance to overturn asymmetries between the global North and the global South in accessing and controlling resources.   What distinguishes RBE from other alternative economic models is that it draws upon—and is shaped by—the standards and principles outlined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other treaties.   These international declarations and treaties enshrine widely agreed upon values such as dignity, equity and justice. They also set out binding obligations that governments and other powerful actors must comply with to give effect to these values. Understood holistically, they set out a redistributive agenda that has the potential to be transformative.   To recognize public goods such as health, water and education as rights acknowledges that they are a prerequisite for human dignity.   Consequently, access to them cannot be left to the whims of the market or to the arbitrary choices of government actors. Governments must take concrete steps to guarantee these goods using the maximum available resources. This entails the equitable generation, allocation and expenditure of fiscal resources.   Increasingly, human rights actors are clarifying how these standards should be implemented. For example, the Center for Economic and Social Rights recently published the Principles for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, offering guidance for how to create a new fiscal contract that is human-rights centered.   This human rights framework also includes extraterritorial obligations, which require states to cooperate internationally and refrain from actions that could threaten the rights of those living outside of their territory.   Drawing on these standards and principles, RBE could overhaul the neocolonial global economic system, especially pertaining to tax and debt, and replace it with a system that transforms power imbalances between the global North and South.   The global economy is interconnected through transnational companies, financial policies and trade deals in ways that reproduce historical racial oppression rooted in the legacies of colonialism, slavery and apartheid despite their formal abolition.   A recent groundbreaking statement issued by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination demonstrates how these dynamics have also fueled vaccine inequity. Decolonizing the global economy is crucial for creating an equitable, just, safe and healthy planet for all.   These are just some of the ways RBE could facilitate a new social contract by demanding accountability from governments to catalyze greater action for the redistribution of resources and power, enabling human dignity and planetary flourishing.   How RBE intersects with other alternative economic models   RBE seeks to complement other progressive alternative models. For example, it learns from and aligns with many aspects of buen vivir, stressing the need to work in harmony with nature instead of exploiting it, recognizing the intrinsic worth of the environment and aiming to decolonize and democratize the economy, both locally and globally.   RBE also aligns with many feminist demands, including calls to rebuild the social organization of care and dismantle all forms of patriarchal domination in the economy, from ensuring substantive gender equality to establishing gender-responsive, universal and comprehensive social protection schemes which are radically redistributive in nature.   As former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet has stated, “a human rights-based economy is inevitably a feminist economy.”   Lastly, RBE embraces key premises of degrowth, namely that GDP is not a proxy for well-being and that there is not a causal relationship between commodity production and social outcomes.   A call for action, solidarity and mobilization   RBE and the calls to craft a new eco-social contract both point to the urgency of transforming the current economic system. UN leaders have repeatedly reiterated the urgency of this task, with the Secretary-General calling for a new social contract rooted in human rights and the need for an overhaul of the global financial system.   The task ahead of us now is to build momentum and power, and to replace the neoliberal economic narrative of market efficiency with new narratives and visions of our own. To move ahead, we must simultaneously break down silos and bridge the social movements working on issues of human rights, climate change, gender equality, tax justice and social justice.   It is only through our solidarity and mobilization that we can establish a Rights-Based Economy towards a social contract that can meet the social, economic and environmental challenges of our time.   http://www.unrisd.org/en/library/blog-posts/how-a-rights-based-economy-can-help-us-overcome-the-social-economic-and-environmental-challenges-of- http://www.unrisd.org/en/library/blog-posts/inequality-is-a-barrier-to-social-justice-here-is-how-it-can-be-overcome Visit the related web page
	50 Million People Worldwide in Modern Slavery by ILO, IOM, Walk Free Foundation   Sep. 2022   Fifty million people were living in modern slavery in 2021, according to the latest Global Estimates of Modern Slavery Report. Of these people, 28 million were in forced labour and 22 million were trapped in forced marriage.   Latest estimates show that forced labour and forced marriage have increased significantly in the last five years, according to the International Labour Organization (ILO), Walk Free and the International Organization for Migration (IOM).   The number of people in modern slavery has risen significantly in the last five years. Ten million more people were in modern slavery in 2021 compared to 2016 global estimates. Women and children remain disproportionately vulnerable.   Modern slavery occurs in almost every country in the world, and cuts across ethnic, cultural and religious lines. More than half (52 per cent) of all forced labour and a quarter of all forced marriages can be found in upper-middle income or high-income countries.   Forced labour   Most cases of forced labour (86 per cent) are found in the private sector. Forced labour in sectors other than commercial sexual exploitation accounts for 63 per cent of all forced labour, while forced commercial sexual exploitation represents 23 per cent of all forced labour. Almost four out of five of those in forced commercial sexual exploitation are women or girls.   State-imposed forced labour accounts for 14 per cent of people in forced labour.   Almost one in eight of all those in forced labour are children (3.3 million). More than half of these are in commercial sexual exploitation.   Forced marriage   An estimated 22 million people were living in forced marriage on any given day in 2021. This indicates an increase of 6.6 million since the 2016 global estimates.   The true incidence of forced marriage, particularly involving children aged 16 and younger, is likely far greater than current estimates can capture; these are based on a narrow definition and do not include all child marriages. Child marriages are considered to be forced because a child cannot legally give consent to marry.   Forced marriage is closely linked to long-established patriarchal attitudes and practices and is highly context-specific. The overwhelming majority of forced marriages (more than 85 per cent) was driven by family pressure. Although two-thirds (65 per cent) of forced marriages are found in Asia and the Pacific, when regional population size is considered, the prevalence is highest in the Arab States, with 4.8 people out of every 1,000 in the region in forced marriage.   Migrants particularly vulnerable to forced labour   Migrant workers are more than three times more likely to be in forced labour than non-migrant adult workers. While labour migration has a largely positive effect on individuals, households, communities and societies, this finding demonstrates how migrants are particularly vulnerable to forced labour and trafficking, whether because of irregular or poorly governed migration, or unfair and unethical recruitment practices.   "It is shocking that the situation of modern slavery is not improving. Nothing can justify the persistence of this fundamental abuse of human rights," said ILO Director-General, Guy Ryder.   "We know what needs to be done, and we know it can be done. Effective national policies and regulation are fundamental. But governments cannot do this alone. International standards provide a sound basis, and an all-hands-on-deck approach is needed. Trade unions, employers' organizations, civil society and ordinary people all have critical roles to play."   Antonio Vitorino, IOM Director General, said: "This report underscores the urgency of ensuring that all migration is safe, orderly, and regular. Reducing the vulnerability of migrants to forced labour and trafficking in persons depends first and foremost on national policy and legal frameworks that respect, protect, and fulfil the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all migrants -- and potential migrants -- at all stages of the migration process, regardless of their migration status. The whole of society must work together to reverse these shocking trends, including through implementation of the Global Compact for Migration."   Grace Forrest, Founding Director of Walk Free, said: "Modern slavery is the antithesis of sustainable development. Yet, in 2022, it continues to underpin our global economy. It is a man-made problem, connected to both historical slavery and persisting structural inequality. In a time of compounding crises, genuine political will is the key to ending these human rights abuses."   Ending modern slavery   The report proposes a number of recommended actions which, taken together and swiftly, would mark significant progress towards ending modern slavery. They include: improving and enforcing laws and labour inspections; ending state-imposed forced labour; stronger measures to combat forced labour and trafficking in business and supply chains; extending social protection, and strengthening legal protections, including raising the legal age of marriage to 18 without exception.   Other measures include addressing the increased risk of trafficking and forced labour for migrant workers, promoting fair and ethical recruitment, and greater support for women, girls and vulnerable individuals.   # Modern slavery, as defined for the report, is comprised of two principal components - forced labour and forced marriage. Both refer to situations of exploitation that a person cannot refuse or cannot leave because of threats, violence, coercion, deception, or abuse of power. Forced labour, as defined in the ILO Forced Labour Convention, 1930 (No.29), refers to "all work or service which is exacted from any person under the menace of any penalty and for which the said person has not offered himself voluntarily". The "private economy" includes all forms of forced labour other than state-imposed forced labour.   http://www.iom.int/news/50-million-people-worldwide-modern-slavery http://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2022/09/special-rapporteur-right-development-covid-19-pandemic-triggered-largest-global Visit the related web page
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