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Assessing fiscal policies from a human rights perspective

Center for Economic and Social Rights
July 2016

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"The study undertaken by the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) and the Instituto Centroamericano de Estudios Fiscales (ICEFI) aimed to contribute to a broader reflection on the role of fiscal policy in complying with a state’s economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) obligations. Despite being a middle-income country with the largest economy in Central America, Guatemala’s social indicators were alarming; with more than half the population living below the national poverty line and one in seven Guatemalans living in extreme poverty. The persistence of systemic inequality and discrimination could be partially explained by the legacy of almost 40 years of armed conflict, which did not end until the signing of the Peace Accords in 1996. Nevertheless, the stark contrasts between rich and poor suggested that the dismal state of ESC rights could not be attributed to limited state resources, but to the way in which they were distributed, this highlighted the need to hold the state accountable for its efforts to generate and manage resources equitably and in accordance with its human rights obligations.... Methodological case study on the use of available resources to realize economic, social and cultural rights in Guatemala

Opera : a four step framework for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights fulfillment

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS (CESR)
March 2016

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This infographic illustrates the OPERA framework. This framework is for monitoring economic, social and cultural rights fulfilment and consists of four levels of analysis: outcomes, policy efforts, resources and assessment. The infographic lays out specific benchmarks and for what is measured by each level of analysis and how each concept is to be measured

The OPERA framework : assessing compliance with the obligation to fulfil economic, social and cultural rights

CORKERY, Allison
WAY, Sally-Anne Way
OTERO, Victoria Wisniewski
2012

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“This paper presents a practical framework for integrating different tools and techniques in order to provide a more comprehensive assessment of how public policies comply with the obligation to fulfill ESC rights. The OPERA framework (so called because it triangulates Outcomes, Policy Efforts and Resources to make an overall Assessment) articulates relevant human rights standards and principles to take into account when monitoring ESC rights fulfillment and offers practical guidance on which tools and techniques might be employed to evaluate them. These range from simple descriptive statistics that summarize data to more complex fiscal policy and budget analysis that assess the availability and allocation of resources. By making explicit this crucial link between the various human rights standards and principles that underpin the obligation to fulfill and the different assessment methods available to monitor them, the framework enables a systematic approach to building evidence of failures to fulfill ESC rights”

Assessing fiscal policies from a human rights perspective : methodological case study on the use of available resources to realize economic, social and cultural rights in Guatemala

CORKERY, Allison Corkery
EVA, Maria Jose
2012

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This report is a “methodological case study on the use of available resources to realize economic, social and cultural rights in Guatemala…To assess Guatemala’s compliance with its development and human rights commitments, the study adopted a multidisciplinary approach, combining a range of quantitative and qualitative research techniques drawn from the fields of human rights law, public policy analysis and development economics. This paper provides a step-by-step explanation of the methodological approach designed for the “Rights or Privileges” project, in order to illustrate the application of CESR’s analytical framework OPERA (so called because it triangulates evidence gathered on Outcomes, Policy Efforts and Resources to make an overall Assessment)”

OPERA

CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS (CESR)

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This section of the Center for Economic and Social rights’ website presents information about the OPERA framework. The centre “developed a simple, yet comprehensive four-step framework to analyse various aspects of the obligation to fulfil economic and social rights. Adopting the acronym OPERA, the framework incorporates different measures for specific human rights principles and standards, by framing them around four levels of analysis: Outcomes, Policy Efforts, Resources and Assessment” 

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