A government’s budget is about people’s human rights… The national government in Country F directs funds annually to state governments for the establishment and maintenance of a system of emergency food supplies. The local authorities in one state, River State, pocket most of the funds, with the result that emergency food supplies are inadequate when a drought hits the state and people go hungry.

Or… People in the rural areas of Blossom County in Country C have to walk, on average, 15 miles to the nearest health clinic; no public transportation is available. As a result, a number of people, including pregnant women, die annually from a lack of medical care. Over the course of several years, the government has claimed it has no resources to build additional clinics, but during that time the army’s budget has increased by 25%, even though there was no war going on.

Or… The government has privatized water services in country D. It has established a National Water Commission whose mandate is to oversee water contracts, to ensure that services are being provided efficiently and that all citizens of country D have access to clean water. While the government lays out the process for the selection and work of the Commission, it fails to allocate funds for its operation.

Using budget work to realize the right to education Photo: Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Buenos Aires, Argentina

National and international human rights guarantees National and municipal  Argentine Constitution guarantees equality and the right to education  Constitution of City of Buenos Aires guarantees equality and access to early education for children from 45 days to 5 years International  International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights guarantees equality and the right to education  Right to education means - classrooms will be available in sufficient quantity - classrooms will be available in sufficient quantity - classrooms will be of acceptable quality - classrooms will be of acceptable quality (General Comment 13 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and (General Comment 13 of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) Cultural Rights)

Budget analysis as a tool to assist human rights work  Helps assess the congruence of budget revenue, allocations and expenditures with the government’s human rights obligations  Enables groups to make targeted recommendations to the government  Helps “cost out” implications of policy choices intended to advance human rights  Helps identify sources of (new or reprioritized) funding to pay for HR policy choices

Challenges in taking on human rights budget work Internal to the organization or coalition  Knowing human rights standards and what they mean  Understanding how to read and analyze a government’s budget  “Translating” human rights concepts into budget concepts—and vice versa External to an organization or coalition  Gaining access to government information and the inadequacy of information  Enabling communities to understand budgets, their meaning, and how to influence them.

Not all budget work is number crunching… To see how communities can get involved in monitoring budgets: MKSS, The Right to Information and Corruption # #

For more information on human rights budget work: