Towards a Just International Tax Order: Giving Content to Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Through the Global Tax System

Publication Title

Tax Justice and Global Inequality

Editor

Krishen Mehta, Esther Shubert, Erika Dayle Siu

Document Type

Contribution to Book

Publication Date

2020

Abstract

Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) calls for ‘a social and international order’ in which human rights can be fully realized. In a globalized world where actions and policies have effects far beyond national borders, concerted action in an equitable international system is necessary for the true fulfillment of human rights. And yet the international order remains a system where power and politics consistently take precedence over states’ human rights obligations. The global tax system and efforts to reform it are a clear example of this failure to live up to the promise of UDHR Article 28. This chapter examines UDHR Article 28 and the global tax system as an illustration of how the international order fails to realize human rights and suggests what a global tax system that meets the requirements of UDHR Article 28 might look like. Finally, the chapter proposes some human rights-based advocacy methods that states and advocates could use to try to achieve such a system, including the use of the individual complaint procedures before Human Rights Treaty Bodies, the creation of a United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Taxation, and the examination of tax-related issues during the Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review process.

Recommended Citation

Monica V. Iyer, Towards a Just International Tax Order: Giving Content to Article 28 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights Through the Global Tax System, in Tax Justice and Global Inequality 278-297 (Krishen Mehta et al., eds., 2020).

ISBN

9781786998088

First Page

278

Last Page

297

Link to Full Text

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