Analysis
Developing Countries Are Being Undermined By Rich Nations’ Greed
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- Written by Financial Transparency Coalition/Cardamone/Gascoigne
The Financial Transparency Coalition addresses the inequalities in the global financial system that penalize billions of people, advocates for greatly improved transparency and accountability.
Given impressive developments in the realm of financial transparency by the G20 in 2013, it would make sense to be optimistic for 2014. But perhaps this year’s G20 host, Australia, has yet to read the memo?
According to a recent study Measuring OECD Responses to Illicit Financial Flows from Developing Countries, of the eight Financial Action Task Force recommendations related to customer due diligence and record-keeping by banks, Australia actually comes out worst of all OECD member countries, failing to comply with six of eight recommendations – and only partially complying with the other two!
Read more: Developing Countries Are Being Undermined By Rich Nations’ Greed
Reflections on 2013
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Dear friends,
Internet technicalities do not allow me to send a newsletter at this moment. Allow me to give you some reflections on the past year and send you my best wishes for 2014.
Global Social Justice has been doing rather well. We were at the World Social Forum in Tunis in March, where we also co-organised a Social Forum on Health and Social Protection. We were at different conferences on social protection and on poverty, in Europe, Africa and Asia. We also were at the WTO social movements gathering in Bali.
Our website gets more and more visitors and also positive feedback. Feedback is particularly important since we can only survive if we offer something that people want and want to read. What is still lacking, is contributions from our members.
We are convinced that Global Social Justice can play an important role in this very difficult period. Social protection is now on the international agenda, everywhere, but however positive this may be, it is not the social protection we want. We need policies that go beyond the Washington Consensus, we need policies that give real protection, economic and social security to people and societies.
Three major tragedies of 2013 convince us that we have to work in another direction:
The working poor in Europe
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- Written by EAPN
See this new report from EAPN on in-work poverty in the EU, presented at the Annual Convention of the European Platform against poverty and social exclusion. 'In-work poverty' is now part of the indicators of the 'social dimension' of the EMU scoreboard.
Global Income Distribution: from the Fall of the Berlin Wall to the Great Recession
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- Written by Milanovic & Lakner
New report from the World Bank from Branco Milanovic: always a must
ICSID and Latin America
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- Written by Nicolas Boeglin
The International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) between investors and states was established under the 1965 Washington Convention as an arbitration mechanism under the auspices of the World Bank to resolve disputes between a state and a foreign investor. Initial drafts of the ICSID convention were prepared in 1963 and were approved by the board of governors of the World Bank at its 1964 annual meetings in Tokyo. In the 1960s and 1970s it was Latin American countries who strongly opposed the creation of this body. In what is known as the “Tokyo No”, nineteen Latin American countries voted against it, including Argentina, Brazil and Mexico. Iraq and the Philippines also voted against the proposal.[i]
ICSID has been criticised by many developing states and authors, as well as NGOs and civil society leaders. According to professor Fach Gomez of the University of Zaragoza in Spain, the main critiques include:
European Council conclusions on finance for development: where is the ambition
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- Written by Jese Griffith/Eurodad
In 13 short paragraphs, the EU’s foreign affairs council – composed of foreign ministers from EU member states – picked up important themes such as the fight against tax havens and the need for responsible financing standards, but said almost nothing new, a worrying sign of low European commitment levels going into critical financing for development negotiations in the next two years.
The ministers committed themselves to “the fight against corruption, tax havens and illicit financial flows” but provided no further detail on any plans they have for ending Europe’s central role in creating this problem. The accompanying conclusions on ‘policy coherence for development’ were similarly silent. The first key test will be next week’s heads of state Council.
Read more: European Council conclusions on finance for development: where is the ambition
Crime, corruption and tax evasion...
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- Written by GFI
New Study Reveals Crime, Corruption, Tax Evasion Drained US$946.7 Billion from Developing Countries in 2011
Illicit Financial Outflows from Developing World Up 13.7% from 2010
Nearly $6 Trillion Stolen from Developing Countries in Decade between 2002 and 2011
China, Russia, Mexico, Malaysia, India—in Declining Order—are Biggest Exporters of Illicit Capital over Decade; Sub-Saharan Africa Suffers Biggest Illicit Outflows as Percent of GDP
Study Is First GFI Analysis to Incorporate Re-Exporting Data from Hong Kong and First GFI Report to Utilize Disaggregated Trade Data in Methodology
From Taxes to Illicit Flows: Mobilising Domestic Resources through Development Cooperation
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- Written by Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala
The time is right for concerted international action on domestic resource mobilisation in the developing world. Recent high performance on collecting taxes and other domestic resources in developing countries shows that if properly harnessed and managed, domestic revenue can be a very important and sustainable source of long-term finance for economic development and reducing poverty.
Increasing income from domestic resources makes countries less dependent on aid, which can be highly unpredictable. Recently, aid volatility has been exacerbated by frequent fiscal challenges faced by many donor countries. More domestic financial flows would also make low and middle income countries less exposed to donor conditionality, allowing them to choose their own development priorities to meet their citizens’ needs. What is more, mobilising domestic resources demands good governance and prudent resource management in order to meet taxpayers’ aspirations.
UN's post 2015 Agenda needs a Triple Play
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- Written by Thalif Deen
As the international community fleshes out a new set of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to be unveiled next year, civil society activists and U.N. officials agree their success will hinge on policies that address the nexus of poverty, hunger and environmental degradation.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who is making a strong push for a politically realistic set of SDGs, points out the latest grim statistics: more than one billion people are still living in extreme poverty and over 840 million are perilously hanging on the edge of starvation and hunger.
"Industrial agriculture, resource extraction by corporations and the international trade system all work against the hungry." -- Anuradha Mittal
The IMF's Debt Restructuring Dilemma
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- Written by Bretton Woods Project
During the IMF annual meetings in October, Grenada minister of economic development Oliver Joseph published an open letter saying that his country is “saddled with a debt that cannot be sustained” and that it “urgently needs debt relief from all its creditors”. After pressure from domestic civil society, particularly the conference of churches, he plans to explore “an independent debt sustainability assessment, external mediation and a creditor’s conference”. Curcially, he wrote: “we have been discussing with stakeholders fairer and more efficient ways of dealing with sovereign debt crises. We are prepared to become pioneers of a new debt-restructuring model that would spare countries from protracted entanglement in the debt trap.”
