Maximum Available Resources & Human Rights: Analytical Report

Written by Radhika Balakrishnan, Diane Elson, James Heintz and Nicholas Lusiani

Maximum Available Resources & Human Rights: Analytical Report highlights numerous questions and issues which could be raised in the context of evaluating whether a state is using the maximum resources available for the fulfillment of economic and social rights. It draws on a rich set of discussions between economists and human rights experts who met at the Center for Women’s Global Leadership in December 2010. In most cases, the questions and issues are broad and represent a starting point for rethinking the concept of maximum available resources. A detailed application of these ideas requires taking into account specific economic, social, and political situations on a country-by-country basis. Nevertheless, the report lays the groundwork for a much more expansive consideration of what it means to use the maximum available resources to realize fundamental human rights.