Jorge Daniel Taillant

Jorge Daniel Taillant is the President of the Center for Human Rights and Environment (CEDHA), Argentina. He is a graduate of the University of California Berkeley where he studied political science, and holds a Masters degree from Georgetown University in Political Economics/Latin American Studies. He also studied political science at the Institute d'Études Politques in France, and economics at the United Nation's CEPAL in Chile. Mr. Taillant has focused his work on development economics, serving at the local and international levels.

In addition to being in charge of CEDHA's overall institutional programming, strategy and direction. He also heads work on International Financial Institutions, Human Rights and Corporate Accountability, and Climate Change. For his work on Corporate Accountability and Human Rights CEDHA won Sierra Club’s 2007 Earth Care Award. In this arena, his work centers on improving human rights and environmental compliance in international development finance, strengthening social and environmental safeguards, promoting greater attention to human rights and normative compliance of private and public financial banks, as well as improving access to justice mechanisms for victims of environmental degradation and related human rights violations. He has been an integral participant in the evolution of the GRI Guidelines, particularly its social and human rights contents, as well as an active contributor to the UN’s work on Human Rights and Corporate Accountability.

He has worked with numerous national and international organizations, including the United Nations, OAS, World Bank, and the European Community. Beginning his career focused on macro-economic analysis, he later concentrated on researching the impacts of decentralization and democratization on local public sector management and capacity, reviewing experiences in direct municipal and provincial lending and developing strategic guidelines a global urban agenda.

Mr. Taillant served in a European Union-financed rural micro finance and village banking operation based on the Grameen Bank model and closely assisted an access to justice program strengthening human rights accountability and procedure. Further to his local agenda, Mr. Taillant has focused on developing participatory mechanisms and local planning tools for municipalities.

He has published numerous works on human rights and environment linkages, including recently, on the implications of human rights on corporate behavior, civil society advocacy on human rights and business, as well as papers on human rights and sustainable development and on corporate accountability in the Americas.

He is currently President of the Center for Human Rights and Environment in Argentina.

Contact: [e-mail]

Selected Publications by Taillant and/or CEDHA:
* A Nascent Agenda for the Americas. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. In Human Rights Dialogue, “Environmental Rights”. Spring 2004–Series 2, Number 11.
* A Rights Based Approach to Development. By Jorge Daniel Taillant; Presentation to the World Social Forum Seminar on Globalization and Human Dignity March 2, 2002 Porto Alegre. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc78.htm
* Degradación Ambiental y Derechos Humanos en la Vida Urbana: Casos en Cordoba y Bariloche. CEDHA 2003.
* Derechos Humanos y Ambiente en la República Argentina: Propuestas para Una Agenda Nacional. Advocatus. Argentina. 2005. 336p.
* Derechos Humanos, Medio Ambiente y la OMC: Reflecciones sobre Doha. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. CEDHA 2001. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc50-spa.doc (This paper is also available in English: Human Rights, Environment and the WTO. http://www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc50-eng.doc).
* “El Afan Económico en el Supercapitalismo”. Por Jorge Daniel Taillant (reflexiones sobre Libro de Robert Reich, Supercapitalism). Publicado en la Voz del Interior. 27 de Octubre, Cordoba 2007. P. A16.
* El Costo Humano de Defender el Planeta: Casos de Violaciones de Derechos Humanos a Activistas Ambientales en las Americas. CEDHA, 2002 (www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc82-spa.htm) and 2003 www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc170-spa.doc (This paper is also available in English: The Human Cost of Defending the Planet. http://www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc170-eng.doc)
* Environmental Advocacy and the Inter-American Human Rights System. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. CEDHA Working Paper. 2001. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc27.doc
* Environmental Discrimination: Issues and Themes. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. CEDHA Working Paper. 2000. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc24.doc
* Guidelines for Civil Society Advocacy on Human Rights and Corporate Behavior. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. CEDHA 2002. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc89-eng.htm
* Human Rights Accountability of Private Business: A Question of Sustainable Development. By Romina Picolotti and Jorge Daniel Taillant. International Council on Human Rights Policy 2000. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc22-spa.doc
* Human Rights and Environment: Riding the Wave of Change and Opportunity in the Americas. By Jorge Daniel Taillant.. Legal Action. 2004. http://www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc271-eng.doc
* Human Rights and Sustainable Development: A View from the Americas. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. February 2003. http://www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc122-eng.htm
* Human Rights and the International Financial Institutions. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. CEDHA 2002. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc83-eng.htm
* Human Rights, Development and Climate Change Negotiations: Why A Structural Shift in Negotiations toward Adaptation Makes Sense. CEDHA. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. November 2007.
* Human Rights in an Evolving Environment. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. For IHRF Event in Lucerne Switzerland. April 2008.
* In the Wake of Discussions on Reforming the Inter-American Human Rights System: Behind the Scenes at the OAS. By Jorge Daniel Taillant and Romina Picolotti. In El Futuro del Sistema Inter-Americano de Proteccion de Derechos Humanos. Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos (Eds. Juan Mendez y Francisco Cox). 1998
* La Responsabilidad Social Empresaria: Maquillaje o Realidad? Por Jorge Daniel Taillant. Nov. 2007
* La Responsabilidad Empresaria y Los Derechos Humanos: Tensiones entre La Maximización de Ganancias y el Deber Legal y Moral. Por Jorge Daniel Taillant. Editorial para el Boletín: BEDH. Del Programa de Empresas y Derechos Humanos, de la Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona. Dic 2007.
* Linking Human Rights and Environment. Arizona Press, 2003. By Romina Picolotti & J.D. Taillant (Eds).
* Presentación ante el Alto Comisionado de Derechos Humanos sobre la Responsabilidad de las Corporaciones Transnacionales y otras Empresas en relación a los Derechos Humanos y el Ambiente. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc43.htm
* The Uses of Satellite Imagery: Linking Human Rights and Environment. CEDHA/CIEL 1999. http://www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc268-eng.doc
* The Human Rights Dimension of Corporate Social Responsibility in Latin America. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. New Academy Review. 2003. www.cedha.org.ar/docs/doc136-eng.htm
* Using Human Rights Tribunals to Force Bank Compliance: Uruguayan Paper Mill Case. By Jorge Daniel Taillant. Bretton Woods Update. No. 49–Jan/Feb 2006 http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B126%5D=x-126-507742

Reviews

* Jorge Daniel Taillant in Alliance. Volume 8, No. 1, March 2003.
* Alternatives to Economic Globalization: A Better World is Possible (Cavanagh and Mander).
* Deglobalization: Ideas for a new world economy