Economic rules determine whose rights are fulfilled and whose lives are constrained by debt and inequality. In this edition of Key Voices, our series highlighting allies advancing economic justice and human rights, Argentine jurist Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky reflects on how freedom, solidarity, and imagination can challenge neoliberal myths and help build an economy grounded in dignity.
Argentine jurist and human rights advocate Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky has long shown that economic crises are not only about debt and markets—they are also human rights crises. From his work as UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights (2014–2020) to his current role on the Experts Committee of the Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy (co-coordinated by CESR), his career combines technical rigor and ethical commitment. A long-standing ally of CESR, Bohoslavsky has worked with us to advance an agenda for economic justice. This collaboration includes the joint essay Rights Not Debts in Progressive International’s Debt Justice Blueprint, as well as participation in international discussions on the need for fair and transparent global tax cooperation. These initiatives reflect a shared conviction: unjust tax and debt rules systematically erode human rights, and rebalancing power in the global economy is both a legal and moral imperative.
His latest project, the animated short film La Grieta y la Libertad, brings that message into the realm of art. In it, Bohoslavsky dismantles neoliberal myths and reclaims a more human understanding of freedom. “Books, arguments, and empirical findings are not enough,” he says. “Emotions play a huge role in shaping public opinion, so I take part in artistic projects to bring a human rights perspective on the economy through people’s emotional worlds.”
Narrating the economy through art
La Grieta y la Libertad emerged from a collective effort among economists, artists, and communicators. Together with screenwriter and producer Pedro Saborido, filmmakers Antonio Balseiro and Nahuel Zeta, producer Felicitas Soldi, economist Mercedes D’Alessandro, animators Ayar Blasco and Rosario Traiana, and actor Agustina Muñoz, Bohoslavsky created a piece that combines humor, animation, and social analysis. The short film, freely available online, invites viewers to see the economy not as a technical field but as something that shapes everyday life and human dignity.
“The goal was to show how neoliberal policies deepen extreme inequalities and worsen material living conditions for large segments of the population,” he explains. “We wanted to do it in a way that struck emotional chords, not just intellectual ones. Because the economy is also felt: in the body, in fear, in exhaustion, in hope.”
The film’s visual and narrative language closes the distance between macroeconomics and human experience. With irony, it reveals how political decisions that favor wealth concentration are neither inevitable nor neutral—they serve clear interests. For Bohoslavsky, art has that power: to expose structural realities without losing empathy.
Contesting the meaning of freedom
One of the film’s most provocative themes is freedom. At a time when the term is used to justify total deregulation and the retreat of the state, Bohoslavsky offers a radically different reading. “This is a fundamental dispute over the public meaning of freedom,” he says. “Can one truly be free while homeless or hungry? The film challenges the notion that equates freedom with market freedom, regardless of living conditions. This formal, market-based vision of freedom recalls Anatole France’s observation that ‘the law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread.’”
For Bohoslavsky, this is not an abstract debate, it is a political and cultural struggle. In a context where the rhetoric of “individual freedom” is gaining ground, he insists that true freedom requires real access to essential goods and services, and that no deregulated market can deliver it. On the contrary, such models only entrench the grotesque concentration of wealth seen today, while poverty continues to rise.
The divide and real power
In La Grieta y la Libertad, “the divide” (“la grieta”) is more than a political split: it is a distraction that prevents us from seeing where real power lies. “While we fight among ourselves, the true centers of power remain untouched,” Bohoslavsky warns.
“The billionaires (and I say this in the masculine because the vast majority are men) hold unimaginable and growing fortunes, while vast portions of humanity live in poverty. This is immoral and a violation of human rights,” he affirms. “The majority must demand fiscal policies, particularly tax measures, that redistribute concentrated wealth. Evidence shows that when inequality is reduced, human development indicators improve.”
He also notes that inequality is sustained by narratives of scarcity: “Many of those most affected by inequality truly believe there aren’t enough resources for everyone, that they must fend for themselves. But that’s not true. Scarcity is not natural; it’s the result of political decisions about how wealth is distributed and who benefits.”
From debt to global justice
For years, Bohoslavsky has argued that public debt is not merely a financial issue: it is moral and political. During his time at the United Nations, he pushed to reform global rules. “Voting shares in the IMF and World Bank should be recalculated to reflect the real GDP produced in each country and region. The current formula is outdated and disproportionately favors the United States.”
He also advocates for neutral forums (such as the UN) to resolve sovereign debt disputes, especially when debtor countries argue that debt repayment would come at the cost of people’s basic rights.
For him, reforming the international financial architecture is essential for global economic justice. Without it, he warns, Global South countries will remain trapped in a system that prioritizes creditors’ profits over human needs.
What’s essential is visible
Beyond his legal and advocacy work, Bohoslavsky explores creative formats. In What’s Essential Is Visible to the Eyes, a project with UNICEF Argentina, he invited children aged 8–9 to draw what they know, feel, and hope for about the economy. “Many drawings reveal the psychological toll of exclusion, poverty, and inequality. Some reflect individualism and lack of empathy, yet others show solidarity and inclusion.”
The book seeks to remind adults that the economy is not abstract: it is a daily experience learned, endured, and imagined from childhood. “What’s essential,” he concludes, “is not in indicators, but in people’s lived realities.”
Bohoslavsky has also “photographed” debt. Together with photographer Jairo Alvarez, he recently released two conceptual photo series: Eyeing the Debt, a visual denunciation of debt’s human impact, and Beyond Debt, which envisions a world without debt, or at least a financial system not built on exploitation.
Bohoslavsky closes with a message for those newly engaged in advancing human rights in the economy: “Don’t give up. Among many other reasons, the future of democracy depends on centering human rights in the economy. Growing poverty and inequality are social, political, and environmental tragedies. Every effort we make to research, expose, and propose a rights-based economy is worth it.”
Our blog series Key Voices features testimony and analysis from CESR allies advancing a rights-based transformation of the economy. From different regions and experiences, they show that structural change is not only necessary: it is possible. The views expressed in Key Voices are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the positions or policies of CESR.