their right to work. Policymakers should be aware of the extent to which tax policies, such as the treatment of income derived from jointly-owned assets of married couples, strengthen or break down gender inequalities, or discriminate against different types of households.’188 In the same vein, the Special Rapporteur on violence against women has recommended that the Netherlands ensure the taxation system fosters and facilitates women’s participation in the labour market.189 The Special Rapporteur has also noted sales taxes’ regressive onus on women, ‘who tend to use larger portions of their income on basic goods because of gender norms that assign them responsibility for the care of dependents’.190 Ensuring minimum core-obligation compliance A connection with minimum core-obligation compliance has also been stressed. The Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty noted that ‘a well-placed tax threshold (namely, the income below which an individual or household is exempted from income tax) is also crucial for ensuring that the taxation system does not jeopardise the ability of people living in poverty to enjoy minimum essential levels of economic, social and cultural rights’.191 In the same vein, the CESCR has stressed that, when states implement austerity measures, they must ensure they do not undermine the minimum core content of all economic, social and cultural rights192 (see section 5.1 below). 3.2 Natural resource revenues Natural resources193 can be a vital source of revenue that states can use to comply with their human rights obligations.194 Special procedures and treaty bodies have regularly raised concerns about revenue mobilisation vis-à-vis natural resources exploitation, although not in a systematic or consistent manner. In particular, their reports indicate: • Natural resources exploitation and production should be carried out in a socially and environmentally responsible manner that prevents human rights violations. Several special procedures – including the Special Rapporteurs on Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as treaty bodies – have expressed concerns when the financial and social benefits of natural resource 188 ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona’ (2014) UN Doc A/HRC/26/28, para 49. 189 See, eg, ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Yakin Ertürk’ (Intersections between culture and violence against women) (2007) A/HRC/4/34/Add.4. 190 ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona’ (2014) UN Doc A/HRC/26/28, para 46. 191 ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on poverty, Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona’ (2014) UN Doc A/HRC/26/28, para 48. 192 See, eg, CESCR, Concluding Observations on Canada (2016) UN Doc E/C.12/CAN/CO/6, para 10. 193 In this study, the term ‘natural resources’ refers to renewable and non-renewable raw materials found in nature that can be used for economic production or consumption, such as minerals, water, land, forestry or fishing. 194 As acknowledged, eg, by the Special Rapporteur on Cambodia, see ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Cambodia, Surya P Subedi’ (A human rights analysis of economic and other land concessions in Cambodia) (2012) UN Doc A/HRC/21/63/Add.1, para 127; ‘Report of the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar, Yanghee Lee’ (2015) UN Doc A/HRC/28/72, para 49. December 2017   The Obligation to Mobilise Resources: Bridging Human Rights, Sustainable Development Goals, and Economic and Fiscal Policies 55