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Nations Unies A/HRC/48/NI/6 Assemblée générale Distr. générale 15 septembre 2021 Français Original : anglais A/HRC/48/NI/6 2 GE.21-12871 Report of the EHRC in response to the Report of the Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons, Claudia Mahler Social Care Since 2010, rising demand and substantial reductions in government funding have led to increased levels of unmet need.1 Requests for adult social care by older people in England increased by 5.7% between 2015–16 and 2019–20, while the number of people receiving support reduced by 18,000.2 In 2019, Age UK estimated that 1.54 million older people in England were not getting the care they wanted or needed. 3 Real-terms local authority spending on social care in England was approximately £400 million lower in 2018–19 than in 2010–11.4 According to a survey of Directors of Adult Social Services, the COVID-19 pandemic has also reinforced both short- and long-term funding pressures for social care, and “whilst Government support has dampened some of the additional pressures facing adult social care through one-off grants, this will fall significantly short in meeting the full costs of the pandemic.”5 Care home residents accounted for 50% of all COVID-19 related deaths in Scotland, 39% of deaths in England and 34% of deaths in Wales.6 As highlighted in EHRC’s evidence to the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) inquiry of the Government’s response to COVID- 19, the pandemic has exacerbated existing pressures on the social care system with increased demand for services and reductions in workforce capacity.7 The provisions of the emergency Coronavirus Act 2020 allow scope for services to reduce by permitting local authorities in England to suspend their duties under the Care Act 2014.8 Only eight English local authorities in fact triggered easements between the end of March and July 2020, and the Care Quality Commission (CQC) has reported that since 3 July 2020 no local authorities in England operated under the easements.9 The Coronavirus Act makes clear that the provision of social care should remain compliant with the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR), including where Care Act easements have been triggered.

The budget for health has increased to more than fifteen times the size of the budget at the time of independence, including an 18 per cent increase from 2011 to 2012.13 Capital investment in the health sector has also increased: allocations for government investment in health in 2012 rose by 40 per cent since 2011, 400 health facilities have been renovated or newly built, and 53 additional facilities have been identified for renovation.14 Per capita government expenditure on health has also risen substantially, from USD 6 in 2000 at average exchange rate to 65 in 2009.15 Per capita spending on health is thus in line with World Health Organization (WHO) estimates, according to which low-income countries will need to spend more than USD 60 per capita by 2015 in order to reach the health-related Millennium Development Goals and to ensure access to critical interventions, including for non-communicable diseases.16 The Special Rapporteur commends the Government on these advances. 11. (...) A/HRC/23/41/Add.1 6 GE.13-13533 cent).20 Moreover, in 2012 only 3.9 per cent of Azerbaijan’s State budget was allocated to health.21 By contrast, the European average was 15.3 per cent in 2010.22 During meetings with the Special Rapporteur, the Government acknowledged that spending on health is still low. Increasing expenditure on health to meet international standards should be of the utmost priority in order to ensure that the country’s considerable wealth is used to improving the health of its people and to meet the country’s obligations under the right to health. (...) However, Government spending on health continues to be directed towards investment in large-scale physical health infrastructure, specialized secondary and tertiary care, and advanced medical equipment.

The Government steadily increased social spending by approximately 10 per cent annually between 2006 and 2017,6 which included public investments in education, health, and infrastructure such as roads, electricity, water and sanitation facilities. (...) Despite the economic slowdown, the State still dedicated 15 per cent of GDP to public investment in 2016 and 13 per cent in 2017, which was the highest in the Latin America and the Caribbean region.16 As implied in paragraph 11.9 of the guiding principles on human rights impact assessments of economic reforms (A/HRC/40/57) – which were recently endorsed by the Human Rights Council, in its resolution 40/8 – the balanced use of foreign reserves for the purpose of social spending and public investment is an important measure for the realization of human rights, particularly at times of economic downturns. 9. (...) Villarroel Böhrt, “Tributación y equidad en Bolivia: estadísticas y revisión de estudios cuantitativos”, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, July 2018; Verónica Paz Arauco and others, “Explaining low redistributive impact in Bolivia”, Public Finance Review, vol. 42, No. 3 (May 2014); and Nora Lustig and others, “The impact of taxes and social spending on inequality and poverty in Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Mexico, Peru and Uruguay: an overview”, Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, November 2013, p. 21. 46 See ECLAC and Oxfam, “Time to tax for inclusive growth”. 47 Giorgio Brosio, “Reducing reliance on natural resource revenue and increasing subnational tax autonomy in Bolivia”, IDB Working Paper Series, No.

The above pattern of agricultural spending stands in sharp contrast with rural development policies, which are clearly redistributive, with the poorest 20 per cent of rural households obtaining 33 per cent of transfers. The World Bank noted the contradiction between the two policies: “agricultural spending is so regressive that it cancels out about half the redistributive impact of rural development spending. Rural development programmes decrease the Gini coefficient (reduce inequality) by about 14.2 per cent, while agricultural spending increases the Gini coefficient (raises inequality) by about 6.7 per cent”.6 20.

Investment in education is an obligation of States under human rights law, and the resources allocated to the education sector on an enduring basis bear witness to the Government’s commitment to the development of education in Seychelles. Education- related spending has averaged around 20 per cent of the national budget since 1998 (CEDAW/C/SYC/1-5, table 8),) normally more than 4 per cent of gross domestic product. Spending on education was around 19 per cent in 2010,10 and such a consistent level of spending provides the predictable support needed to enable continuous planning and improvement. 10 Presentation by the Minister of Education, Employment and Human Resources to the World Conference on Early Childhood Care and Education, 27–29 September 2010.

Generally, with a view to reliable protection of children’s rights, the Commissioner’s activities are carried out in the following directions: • Investigation of complaints submitted to the Commissioner • Monitoring of the status of children; • Preparation of proposals on improvement of national legislation on children’s rights; • Conduction of investigation and research in order to learn the situation of children in state-sun institutions (child homes, boarding institutions, police stations, institutions for children in conflict with the law) • Cooperation with relevant state bodies, non-governmental organisations, and international institutions; • Conduction of educational and lobbying activities A/HRC/26/NI/1 GE.14-04272 3 • Ensuring participation of children, discover and develop their talent and organize efficient spending time for them through the child resource center of Ombudsman Also the Ombudsman makes regular trips to several regions, especially on special occasions, and pays visit to vulnerable groups of population, including children deprived of parental care, minor offenders and takes an interest in their conditions and problems. (...) Proposals on social rights: Aiming at arranging and strengthening social protection of orphans and children deprived of parental care and ensuring gradual solution of the problem, to establish Social Rehabilitation Centers with the capacity of provision of social assistance to children and ensuring their return to families, Crisis Centers for children exposed to violence, Asylums for Children and Adolescents, Aid Centers for the Children Deprived of Parental Care, to create the network of entities and services under state social protection bodies, to transfer children from State Training-Fostering Institutions to families for the purpose of ensuring their sustainable development in family environment and integration into society, to create and apply the mechanism on the provision of alternative care and to increase, according to need, the amount of financial means to be allocated from state budget for taking measures stipulated in relevant programs for the implementation of mentioned work; Taking into account large number of cases concerning payment of alimony imposed by a court decision for child support, to create and apply the mechanism of payment of alimony by the State Social Protection Fund (or “Alimony Fund” created at the concerned state body and financed by state) which should be paid based on court resolution decision by defendant to claimant, provided that later on the alimony is recovered by the State from debtor in a mandatory manner; • To increase the amount of monthly allowance paid to guardians (trustees) of orphans and children deprived of parental care to the level enabling to cover basic needs; • To increase furthermore the amount of allowances allocated for the children of conscripts, martyrs, disabled servicemen, persons who became disabled during January 20 events, persons with I and II groups of disability of Chernobyl disaster, and of deceased persons; • To increase the amount of allowances allocated to the parents and other legal assignees of children attracted to special education for the transportation of children to and from educational institutions, health and rehabilitation centers and medical facilities; • To assign at least 2 workers instead of one for every 20 children with disabilities within boarding schools, and restore 40% of privileges for them; • In order to ensure the rights of persons with disabilities and create conditions for their free movement, to construct ramps in cities and districts; Right to participation As mentioned above, one of the activity directions of the Commissioner is ensuring participation of children, discover and develop their talent and organize efficient spending time for them through the child resource centre of Ombudsman. (...) A/HRC/26/NI/1 10 GE.14-04272 The resource center fully ensures the participation of children and in order to give them opportunity to spend their leisure time effectively different trips are organized for them to winter and summer camps.

E/2007/19 307-31247 -1,0 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 2003-2004 2005-2006 Total revenue Total spending Montant total des recettes Montant total des dépenses -1,0 0,0 1,0 2,0 3,0 2003-2004 2005-2006 Total revenue Total spending Montant total des recettes Montant total des dépenses 2.

The study estimates that incremental spending needs for achieving the 2030 Agenda in low-income countries and lower middle-income countries may amount to $1.2 trillion per year. (...) Reductions in government leakages in public spending and tax collection amounting to $110 billion is achievable on an annual basis. (...) In order to strengthen public financial management, governments, including those of post-conflict countries such as Liberia, adopted the Single Treasury Account, which replaced several individual spending units (ministries). Several countries, including Afghanistan, Kenya, Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone and South Africa, took advantage of the information technology based Integrated Financial Management System, which tracks expenditure at all levels of government, thus enhancing economic governance. 59.

Government pandemic recovery packages included up to USD 513 billion of spending allocated to green or climate-related measures (21 per cent of the total USD 2.5 trillion) up until the end of 2020. Approximately 76 per cent (USD 392 billion) of climate-related recovery spending was announced by developed countries and the remainder by developing countries, particularly those in Asia. (...) Country ownership is a fundamental factor in the delivery of effective finance but is also a broad concept encompassing active stakeholder engagement, links between climate policies and economic growth and development policies, and national spending and tracking systems for climate finance.