At Fundar, we believe in unsuspected struggles, that bear fruit over time and work for them. This is the case of the battle for fiscal justice, and this year, we participated in the Latin American and Caribbean Summit for Global Taxation that is Inclusive, Sustainable, and Equitable; promoted by the United Nations, it was the first event of its kind to be held in history. As part of the Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, at the summit, we aimed to promote a regional agreement for more progressive taxation (more taxes for those who have more) and reflect a common stance among the planet’s most unequal countries. To provide follow-up on the summit, we will keep working to promote the Mexican government’s continued involvement in creating the UN Taxation Convention.
Linked to our work for a feminist public policy beyond our borders, in 2023, Fundar sent two amici curiae (legal analysis) to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights to demonstrate how a national caregiving policy can only come into being if enough resources are allocated to it. We presented how, based on the recognition of the right that all people have to care for others and be cared for, a national caregiving system should create the conditions to recognize, reduce, and distribute domestic and caregiving work among families, the State, the community, and the private sector. Presenting these amici allowed for exchange with other organizations on the problem of caregiving and thus broadened national and regional discussions on the issue. Along this line, we will continue to monitor the issue and promote the development of a caregiving standard for national public policies.
In the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights’ (IACHR) 186th period of sessions, as part of the Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy, we participated in a public hearing that provided the opportunity to establish communication channels with the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (REDESCA). By doing this, we positioned the agenda for fiscal justice and moved toward creating regional standards in Latin America that allow more people, groups, and activists to promote their struggles with a human rights perspective.
Later in the year, we turned to the IACHR again, but this time, we demanded respect for the right to know. We did this as part of the group of organizations that has accompanied the Ayotzinapa case since the young men forcibly disappeared in 2014. During the 188th period of sessions, we went to a public hearing alongside the young men’s parents and the organizations Centro Prodh, Tlachinollan, and SERAPAZ to demonstrate how the current government is placing its stakes on empowering the armed forces to the detriment of access to truth and justice for the victims of the most emblematic case of forced disappearance that Mexico has seen in the last 20 years. At the hearing, we also raised awareness about the strategy the government is trying to employ to close the case, which has unleashed a series of attacks on supporting organizations, especially Centro Prodh, and we reiterated that, at Fundar, we will keep looking for paths and walking alongside the parents of Ayotzinapa in their demand for truth and justice.
As part of the context, we have also had to create resistance surrounding rights that we thought had already been secured, with Mexico having gained a position as a regional example. Therefore, with the monitoring center Observatorio de Designaciones Públicas, we participated in a historic hearing before the IACHR, as it was the first time a State body, the National Institute of Transparency, Access to Information, and Personal Data Protection (INAI, for its Spanish initials), together with civil society, had reported the State; it claimed that, by failing to settle three public designations, the Mexican government had violated the right the institute aims to guarantee. During the hearing, the Mexican State committed to making these designations, but this did not happen. As part of civil society, we supported the demand with communication efforts and actions in public spaces, collective statements, and two amici curiae, which maintained and broadened the public discussion on the issue.
