Uphill Battle
The link between human rights and public budgets is both evident and controversial. It is evident in the sense that in practise, the realization of all human rights is tied to the drafting and implementation of budgets. It is, however, also controversial in that there is plenty of contestation around the nature of obligations human rights set on state budgeting. This is caused partly by the indeterminate nature of human rights: instead of clear quantified standards, human rights set general guiding principles for public budgeting. This chapter examines the challenging road ahead for ‘budgeting for human rights’. More specifically, the chapter will focus on four key challenges that emerge in deliberation towards human rights compatible pubic budgets: transparency, compliance, siloed governance, and participation.