Governments’ budgets are fundamentally about people’s human rights. They are the central means by which governments provide people with access to quality education, decent health care services, a safe working environment, potable water, and goods and services essential for lives with dignity. Article 2 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights sets out what governments are obligated to do to help realize those rights.
The Article 2 Project, a collaboration between a group of civil society organizations, has developed "Article 2 and Governments’ Budgets " a handbook that details how governments’ budgets should help realize human rights. The handbook focuses on civil society budget work and explores what “achieving progressively,” “to the maximum of its available resources,” and “without discrimination” mean for the way that governments should raise, allocate, and spend their budgets according to Article 2. The handbook is a resource for civil society organizations, human rights commissions, and even legislators to hold governments to account for their human rights obligations.
- Learn more about the Article 2 Project and download the handbook