Analysis

Details: Written by Human Wrongs Watch; Created: 27 May 2012

A group of United Nations (UN) independent experts today called on the European Union (EU) to take the lead in promoting the adoption of a global financial transaction tax that would offset the costs of the current economic crisis and protect basic human rights, the UN reports.

Details: Written by Alexis Baden-Mayer; Created: 25 May 2012

At the Group of Eight (G8) meetings this past weekend at Camp David, President Obama and the leaders of the rest of the world's richest nations abandoned their governments' previous commitments to donate $7.3 billion a year to end hunger in Africa and instead left the problem in the hands of the so-called New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition where private corporations will invest $3 billion over 10 years - Monsanto has committed $50 million - beginning in three countries, Tanzania, Ghana and Ethiopia.

Leaving the problem of hunger in the hand of multinationals like Monsanto and Cargill will only exacerbate the conditions already driving poverty in Africa - rich countries' protectionism, land-grabbing, commodity speculation, food waste, and diversion of crops to livestock feed and biofuels - and ratchet up the costs of farming for small farmers by encouraging the use of expensive and unsustainable GMO seeds, pesticides and fertilizers.

Details: Written by ILO; Created: 24 May 2012

7 May 2012: Workers making Olympic sportswear for London 2012 for top brands and high street names including adidas and Next are being paid poverty wages, forced to work excessive overtime and threatened with instant dismissal if they complain about working conditions, according to a new report from the Play Fair 2012 campaign.

Details: Written by Les Roopanarine; Created: 24 May 2012

The British prime minster, David Cameron, will hold a summit on food security during this summer's Olympic Games in London. In a statement to the House of Commons on Wednesday, Cameron announced his intention to hold "a major event" during the Games.

Comment of Global Social Justice: How cynical can you get?

Details: Written by Kyle Hunter; Created: 24 May 2012

(From Global Financial Integrity)

In the past decades, corruption, tax loopholes, and ineffective trading regulations have widened the gap between developed and developing countries, shifting trillions of dollars in assets from the world’s poorest countries to the world’s richest through illicit financial flows. This increased division was the direct result of financial globalization, suggesting a moral paradox: as global societies have become more connected in an economic sense, we have grown farther apart in a certain moral sense.

Details: Written by Sven Giegold; Created: 23 May 2012

Attac fought for the introduction of a financial transaction tax for more than ten years. Today another big step forward was made. The European Parliament adopted the Commission proposal from last year.

Read more: EP endorses FTT proposal

Details: Written by Johanna Treblin; Created: 21 May 2012

(From IPS TerraViva United Nations)

Hundreds of nurses and protestors from other professions gathered on Friday in Chicago to call on world leaders to adopt a Robin Hood Tax on Wall Street transactions as a way to raise hundreds of billions of dollars every year to help heal the U.S. and world economies.

The march is part of the Robin Hood Tax global week of action taking place from May 18 to May 22 in the wake of the G8 Summit at Camp David, which began this Friday. Activists around the world are lobbying for this global financial transactions tax, supported by a range of United Nations (U.N.) human rights experts, including Olivier De Schutter, the U.N. Special Rapporteur on the right to food, .

Details: Written by World Bank; Created: 19 May 2012

“……….Recent world events have put jobs at the center of the policy debate. In advanced economies, there is concern about a jobless recovery; in developing countries, continued growth cannot shield workers who are vulnerable to shocks. Political upheavals in the Arab world have highlighted the discontent of educated youth whose employment opportunities fall short of their expectations.

Details: Written by UN expert on Poverty; Created: 14 May 2012

GENEVA (14 May 2012) As European Union Finance Ministers meet on 15 May to coincide with the G-8 Summit in Camp David, a group of United Nations independent experts urged the EU to take the lead in promoting the adoption of a global financial transaction tax to offset the costs of the enduring economic, financial, fuel, climate and food crises, and to protect basic human rights.

Details: Written by Jessica Evans; Created: 13 May 2012

The World Bank has historically been resistant to addressing human rights. But in the wake of the Arab Spring, it cannot ignore the importance of free speech, association, and assembly to sustainable development. Nor can it continue to turn a blind eye to governments shepherding funds primarily to their supporters with the hope that at least some resources will reach those in need. As the World Bank's new president, Jim Yong Kim has the opportunity to lead the Bank into a new era by using its voice and resources to bridge the false divide between human rights and development.