From July 3-7, civil society organizations, experts, activists and social movements will gather to discuss regional tax cooperation, the feminist tax agenda, sovereign debt and other key issues for tax justice and human rights.
Latin America remains the most unequal region in the world, and the challenge of reducing this problem to ensure socio-economic and environmental rights, as well as to move towards a sustainable economy, requires that multinationals and wealthy individuals pay their fair share of taxes, as well as an international tax structure that takes seriously the fight against illicit financial flows, evasion and avoidance.
Although there is progress in the G20/OECD agreement on a 15% global minimum tax to prevent multinationals from shifting their profits to tax havens, it falls short in ambition and scope. That is why civil society welcomed the announcement by the governments of Colombia, Brazil and Chile on the creation of a "fair, sustainable and equitable global taxation" initiative, which included a call for Latin American and Caribbean countries to articulate common positions and act as a bloc in global tax negotiations. The First Latin American and Caribbean Summit for Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable Global Taxation included a call for Latin American and Caribbean countries to articulate common positions and act as a bloc in global tax negotiations. The First Latin American and Caribbean Summit for Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable Global Taxation will be held in Cartagena, Colombia, on July 27-28, 2023.
Our Human Rights Principles in Fiscal Policy Initiative wants to take advantage of this historic moment to position the human rights approach in international and regional tax negotiations and, in particular, in the agreements resulting from the Cartagena Summit. If Latin America is able to address in a coordinated manner the challenges related to global taxation and align them with its human rights obligations, it can become a global benchmark for greater tax justice.
That is why, in the third version of Tax Justice and Human Rights Week, which will take place from July 3-7, 2023, civil society organizations, experts, activists and social movements will focus on the opportunities offered by the Summit, as well as on spaces for dialogue on tax cooperation in the region, the feminist tax agenda and sovereign debt.
What is the agenda for the Third Tax Justice and Human Rights Week?
The day of face-to-face and virtual events and a workshop aimed at civil society will begin on Monday, July 3 and end on Friday, July 7.
MONDAY 3 and 10 JULY
Training Workshops: Broadening Voices in International Taxation Debates
With an increasingly integrated discussion of national and international taxation, and in light of the opportunities that the first Summit for Tax Cooperation in Latin America and the Caribbean will provide, two training workshops will be held to increase the knowledge and skills of organizations on international taxation issues and, in the medium term, to begin to explore the introduction of human rights messages in new forums and advocacy spaces.
*This workshop already has a list of participants. If you are interested, please send an email with your request for inclusion to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
TUESDAY, JULY 4
National Tax Reforms to Promote Progressivity (cases of Colombia and Brazil)
This space will identify the positions of academia and civil society regarding the progressivity of tax reforms in Colombia and Brazil. Rodrigo Uprimny, from Dejusticia, and Oliver Pardo, from the Fiscal Observatory of the Javeriana University, will speak on the case of Colombian tax reform from the perspective of individuals and companies, while Róber Iturriet Avila, from the Fiscal Justice Institute and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, will do the same with the case of Brazil. Then, Adriana Torres and Fabián Mendoza, researchers from Dejusticia, will refer to the Colombian healthy tax and the demand for tax reform in this country, while Marcello Baird, from ACT Promoção da Saúde, will do the same with the Brazilian healthy tax.
Time: 9:00 AM Mexico/ 10:00 AM Colombia/ 12:00 PM Argentina, Brazil and Chile
Format: Hybrid Dialogue
In person: Dejusticia Auditorium: Calle 35 # 24 - 31 Bogotá, Colombia.
Virtual: Registration here
Tax policy and the right to health: virtual dialogue to think about points of contact and opportunities for collaboration
Several civil society organizations have worked in recent years to connect the world of human rights with that of fiscal policy. With the understanding that fiscal policy is a necessary guarantee of rights, analytical and normative advances have been made to delineate the obligations of States in fiscal matters. In Latin America, an example of this is the Principles of Human Rights in Tax Policy. In parallel, other organizations with right-to-health agendas have been incorporating the fiscal dimension into their work (for example, the work of Amnesty International documenting the impact of austerity measures on the right to health or the work of Public Services International to ensure the financing of universal access to health), and have developed normative instruments such as the Principles and Guidelines on Human Rights and Public Health Emergencies. However, these different initiatives encompass civil society actors that do not always dialogue or connect their agendas. The objective of this meeting will be to have a closed, informal conversation between representatives of these spaces in order to connect agendas, map key institutional debates and forums, and think about future collaborations.
*This workshop already has a list of participants. If you are interested, please send an email with your request to be included to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
WEDNESDAY, JULY 5
Austerity at all costs? Rights-based alternatives for action
Prior to the COVID-19 health crisis, Latin America and the Caribbean had the highest levels of public debt among emerging countries. In 2020, the level of public debt rose sharply due to the contraction of economic activity and the financing of measures to counteract the health crisis. The economic recovery in 2021 led to a reduction in the level of debt, but the region still maintains historically high levels. This is compounded by an adverse macroeconomic context. Various policy alternatives have been proposed that could be adopted to manage more efficiently the problems of over-indebtedness and the restrictions that fiscal rules tend to impose. In some cases, these proposals also seek to harmonize such measures with human rights obligations. This panel aims to discuss possible alternatives for action to address austerity contexts and measures in order to promote sustainable development and the effective guarantee of human rights.
Time: 8:30 AM Mexico/ 9:30 AM Colombia/ 11:30 PM Argentina, Brazil and Chile
Format: Virtual Dialogue
THURSDAY, JULY 6TH
A feminist tax agenda: advances and challenges from different regions
This forum will explain why it is more necessary than ever to strengthen the feminist perspective in the promotion of tax reform processes in different countries of the region. Through the study of national cases, participants will address the extent to which systemic problems of taxation, such as dependence on consumption taxes, low collection of wealth taxes, high levels of tax evasion and lack of transparency and accountability, impact women's rights and autonomy. Likewise, the importance of promoting the recent efforts to advance towards a regional fiscal pact, in the context of the Latin American and Caribbean Summit for a Global, Inclusive, Sustainable and Equitable Taxation, with a feminist perspective, will be discussed.
Time: 9:00 AM Mexico/ 10:00 AM Colombia/ 12:00 PM Argentina, Brazil and Chile
Format: Virtual Dialogue in Spanish and English
FRIDAY, JULY 7
The road towards a Tax Cooperation platform in Latin America and the Caribbean What to expect?
An inter-ministerial summit with Latin American and Caribbean governments will be held on July 27-28 in Cartagena, Colombia, with the objective of promoting inclusive, sustainable and equitable global taxation. The Summit, announced in 2023 by the government of Colombia, is currently also being convened by the governments of Brazil and Chile. The Summit presents an excellent opportunity for Latin American governments to consolidate a tax bloc with greater joint power in international negotiations and to strengthen their cooperation mechanisms. The need to confront problems such as the use of tax havens by elites, tax competition and the lack of common policies and standards demand the construction of a robust cooperation agenda. This is more urgent than ever in a context of a global crisis due to rising prices, growing external debt, the challenges posed by climate change, and serious setbacks in terms of inequality and poverty. With the unanimous decision to initiate talks towards a global tax cooperation framework at the United Nations, the time could not be more propitious to think about and create alternatives to these structural problems. The world is now looking towards Latin America and the Caribbean and it is necessary to take advantage of this opportunity.
Time: 9:00 AM Mexico/ 10:00 AM Colombia/ 12:00 PM Argentina, Brazil and Chile
Format: Virtual Dialogue in Spanish and English
How to participate in the events?
Any interested person can register for free. All you have to do is check the event of interest in the agenda of the Third Week for Tax Justice and Human Rights and click on the registration button. Once registered, a confirmation e-mail will be sent to the account from which the registration was made. It is possible to register for all events.
You can also follow the coverage of the Second Tax Justice and Human Rights Week on the Initiative's social networks and those of our allied organizations.
Who is organizing the Third Tax Justice and Human Rights Week?
This series of events is organized by the Initiative for Human Rights Principles in Tax Policy and its Driving Committee, composed of eight organizations from the region in charge of the administration of the initiative and the communication and dissemination of the Principles: ACIJ, CELS, CESR, Dejusticia, Fundar, Inesc, Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe and GI-ESCR.
Together, these organizations seek to develop and promote the Principles of Human Rights in Tax Policy, a compendium that translates general human rights guidelines into more concrete guidelines for easy implementation. The initiative is a project focused on Latin America and the Caribbean, organized in an open, collaborative, interdisciplinary, gender-diverse and regionally diverse manner.
