Human Rights Economics

Many human rights advocates now engage with economic policy as a necessary part of their work. Their conceptual frameworks vary, however, as do the human rights-based entry points to economics-related work.

In contrast, feminist approaches have developed a clearly-defined framework for analyzing the economy such that ‘feminist economics’ is now a respected field, applied by policymakers. Similarly, environmentalists refer to ‘environmental economics’ to ensure that challenges such as water quality, toxic substances and climate change are tackled in economic thinking.

The Human Rights Economics project is an enquiry into what the parameters of human rights economics should be. Its aim is for human rights advocates to have a greater impact on economic policy.

The Human Rights Economics website gathers research and publications undertaken within the project. The work is led by Caroline Dommen with financial support from the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung.

About Caroline Dommen

Caroline Dommen is interested in the intersection between economics, the environment and human rights, with a particular focus on gender equality. She undertakes research, writing, training and evaluation on international law and policy, for the UN, academic institutions and NGOs.

Caroline is keen to see a redefinition of economic thinking so that it takes better account of social and sustainability concerns, and so that those responsible for economic policies become more accountable for the consequences of those policies.