Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)/ Promoting effective implementation of ESR in development policy and practice

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

CESR will focus on 3 key contexts: 1: The unprecedented opening for civil society to help shape the design and implementation of the new global development agenda to replace the MDGs in 2015. CESR´s program area Securing Human Rights on the Post-2015 Agenda aims to ensure that concrete civil society proposals for how to anchor the SDGs in human rights are advanced in a coherent and coordinated manner and taken up by member states and others with influence over the process. Proposals will underscore the indivisibility and universality of human rights; the accountability of all relevant institutions for their respective human rights obligations; and the need for development financing arrangements to be guided by human rights standards. CESR also aims to enable human rights advocates to contribute effectively to the design of the future SDGs and mechanisms. 2: CESR´s programme is countering worldwide trend towards fiscal austerity, which has formed the dominant response in most states to the global economic downturn of recent years. Program area Safeguarding Human Rights in Times of Crisis and Transition enables more effective scrutiny of fiscal policies by civil society groups and national, regional and international human rights bodies. It proposes human rights-centered alternatives to austerity policies. CESR research and advocacy projects will highlight the role of fiscal policy in fulfilling economic and social rights and reducing inequality in different settings. CESR will work with national partners to hold governments and relevant transnational actors accountable. Advocacy at the national and global levels will also promote human rights-compliant alternatives. 3: Strengthening ESC Rights Monitoring and Accountability Mechanisms intersects in a cross-cutting manner with thematic focuses outlined above. CESR works to strengthen the capacity of accountability institutions to monitor and enforce ESC rights, focusing on both judicial and non-judicial mechanisms at the national, regional and global levels. It also works with the UN Committee on ESC Rights, other relevant UN treaty bodies and Special Rapporteurs with an ESC-rights related mandate to advance understanding of ESC rights norms and their application. CESR will also seek to make innovative monitoring methods more accessible to CSOs, creating opportunities for skills sharing. The activities will be implemented in the Global South, benefitting DAC- recipient countries.