This stimulating book calls for the disruption of the forces that produce economies that manifestly fail to fulfil human rights and the reassembly of economies that will fulfil these rights, drawing on human rights norms and institutions, and a wide range of innovative ideas about economic alternatives. It offers new thinking for both practitioners and academics and will be indispensable reading for courses on human rights, political economy, and social and economic policy.
— Diane Elson, Emeritus Professor, University of Essex and Chair, Commission on a Gender Equal Economy

The human rights framework is not fixed or uniform; it is dynamic and designed to adapt in response to the diverse assertions and perceptions of injustice among us as human beings. The contributions to this book push the agenda forward to keep thinking and enabling human rights to effectively address the ever-growing and pressing demands of the current moment.
— Radhika Balakrishnan, Professor of Women's and Gender and Sexuality Studies, Rutgers University

Matti Kohonen is executive director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, a group of 11 international civil society organisations. Before joining the FTC, he worked for Christian Aid, Oxfam and the Tax Justice Network. He holds a PhD in sociology from the London School of Economics and is the co-editor of Tax Justice: Putting Global Inequality on the Agenda (2009).


Marianna Leite is ACT Alliance’s Global Advocacy and Development Policy Manager. As a lawyer, researcher and activist, she has over 15 years of professional experience across the legal, academic and development sectors. She holds a post-doctorate certificate in Human Rights and Democracy from the Faculty of Law of University of Coimbra and a PhD in Development Studies from Birkbeck, University of London.

Foreword by Tomás Pascual Ricke, Ambassador and Director of Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Chile


Human Rights Economy for People and the Planet: Framing the Contours of an Approach, Jyoti Sanghera


1. Introduction: what it means to “right the economy” and why we need it now

Marianna Leite and Matti Kohonen


Part I Framing the economy


2. Towards a Rights-Based Economy: post-growth economics and the future of welfare

Olivier De Schutter


3. The Center for Economic and Social Rights’ journey to advance a rights-based economy

Center for Economic and Social Rights


4. Business and human rights: from “tokenism” to “centring” rights and rightsholders

Surya Deva and Harpreet Kaur


5. A human rights economy approach as the basis for a global fiscal architecture

Attiya Waris


6. Macroeconomic policy and development agenda for a Rights-Based Economy

Pedro Rossi


7. Financial complicity and human rights: exploring the legal and policy landscape of responsibility for sovereign debt

Celine Tan and Rafael Quintero Godinez


Part II Transforming the economy


8. Illicit financial flows, tax havens and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights

Asha Ramgobin


9. Social and solidarity economy as an alternative economy for the protection of human rights Ilcheong Yi


10. Judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights as a way to challenge neoliberalism: post-2008 austerity in Europe

Kári Hólmar Ragnarsson


11. Health and human rights: what are the lessons from the Covid-19 pandemic?

Jasmine Gideon and Kate Bayliss


12. From recovery to transformation? Assessing Argentina’s Covid-19 economic response through a feminist lens

Magalí Brosio and Edurne Cárdenas


13. A feminist and decolonial global Green New Deal: principles, paradigms and systemic transformations

Bhumika Muchhala


14. Conclusion: “righting the economy” and building on plural and decolonial models to curtail the effects of negative corporate practice

Matti Kohonen and Marianna Leite