1. NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights Manuel Couret Branco mbranco@uevora.pt Department of Economicsmbranco@uevora.pt

2. Most rights, the negative as much as the positive, demand the provision of goods and services Responsibility is a key issue in human rights. Who or what has the obligation to provide those goods and services that constitute rights In human rights literature in general, the State is usually responsible for securing human rights Can the responsibility model centred in the State be extended to non- State agents’ obligations, such as markets? Water and social security will be the examples. They have the advantage of being relatively homogenous goods and services NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

3. In September 2010 the UN Human Rights Council adopted a resolution recognizing the human right to water and sanitation The right to social security is explicitly referred to in the UDHR, articles 22 and 25, and in the ICESCR article 9 Rights, if they are to be fully taken as rights, must be equally allocated amongst all those entitled to enjoy them Beyond the legitimate statutory exceptions, rights do not admit exclusion either Rights of individuals correspond to duties of other individuals or institutions. Suppliers of goods and services as rights must be accountable NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

4. When human rights are being promoted, one is asserting a social preference meaning that a degree to which people’s needs are covered in a certain instance may be better than in another Actually, universal coverage is the only acceptable situation, at least as a tendency. Any other situation may be considered a violation of a right Markets do not state social preferences. They cannot argue that universal coverage is better than any other distribution structure What matters for markets is that that sellers are able to sell the amounts they wish at market prices and that buyers are able to buy what they intend at the same market prices Inequality and exclusion are therefore not a problem NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

5. If the rights of some individuals are not secured, then other individuals or institutions have failed in carrying out their duties The inability of an individual to exercise his or her rights may be considered a human right’s violation and therefore a crime When the state fails in securing human rights, the state is accountable either legally in a court of law or politically through elections If the market fails in securing human rights, whom should an individual turn to? The state is both elected and known, the market is by definition anonymous NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

6. A competitive market can produce inefficient social allocation, especially when the decision is between human consumption and productive uses The market is also inefficient is securing the right to social security. First of all the market is not able to cover risks adequately. Ex: unemployment Private health insurance or private retirement pension have been more successful. Nevertheless, the market also fails in providing them as human rights It is difficult to predict all risks. Competition could also lead to attracting preferentially low risk clients Private pension system cannot guarantee a comfortable level of income without operating in financial markets. An investment is not a synonym of a guarantee NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

7. Market’s postulates are contradictory with human rights as the best possible result accepts inequality and exclusion Markets tends to reduce all categories of goods and services, and, thus, of rights, to only one, the commodity With commodities needs have an economic and private nature whereas with human rights needs have a political and public nature Decommodifying human rights implies recognizing the public character of supplying some goods an services Public provision is not synonym of the State. The democratic principle of subsidiarity sustains that decisions concerning rights must be decentralized to a point as close to the people concerned as possible NICPRI Can Markets Secure Human Rights

8. NICPRI Economics for Human Rights Manuel Couret Branco mbranco@uevora.pt Department of Economicsmbranco@uevora.pt Can Markets Secure Human Rights