Articles
Democracy on the retreat in almost half of UN Member States
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Democracy is on the retreat and authoritarianism is on the rise in more than 96 of the U.N.’s 193 member states, according to a new report released here.
The two regions of “highest concern” for defenders of civic space are Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa, which between them account for over half of the countries counted.
"Legitimate civil society activities are worryingly under threat in a huge number of countries in the global North and South, democratic and authoritarian, on all continents." -- Dr. Dhananjayan Sriskandarajah
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The obscure legal system that lets corporations sue countries
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Luis Parada’s office is just four blocks from the White House, in the heart of K Street, Washington’s lobbying row – a stretch of steel and glass buildings once dubbed the “road to riches”, when influence-peddling became an American growth industry. Parada, a soft-spoken 55-year-old from El Salvador, is one of a handful of lawyers in the world who specialise in defending sovereign states against lawsuits lodged by multinational corporations. He is the lawyer for the defence in an obscure but increasingly powerful field of international law – where foreign investors can sue governments in a network of tribunals for billions of dollars.
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ILO adopts historic recommendation on informal labour
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The International Labour Organization (ILO) has adopted a new international labour standard that is expected to help hundreds of millions of workers and economic units move out of informality and into the formal economy.
More than half of the world’s workforce is estimated to be trapped in the informal economy, which is marked by the denial of rights at work, the absence of sufficient opportunities for quality employment, inadequate social protection, a lack of social dialogue and low productivity, all of which constitutes a significant obstacle to the development of sustainable enterprises.
The new Recommendation acknowledges that most people enter the informal economy not by choice but due to a lack of opportunities in the formal economy and an absence of any other means of livelihood.
10 Reasons Why an Intergovernmental UN Tax Body Will Benefit Everyone
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During the 3rd drafting session to formulate an outcome document for the 3rd International Conference on Financing for Development, a coalition of 30 NGOs from around the globe is urging governments to pave the way for setting up an intergovernmental body on tax cooperation with universal membership under the roof of the United Nations. To ‘sweeten the deal’ for delegates, and to strengthen their resolve, negotiators received a little gift of chocolate, which came right in time just after lunch. Of course, arguments were also provided for why the world needs a new institution for a truly global tax governance.
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The world's poorest need help, not bickering, from wealthy democracies
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The most important international negotiations of which you’ve never heard are in trouble. They aren’t about Iran’s nuclear program or trans-Pacific trade: they’re about ending extreme poverty and saving hundreds of millions of lives in the next fifteen years.
In New York, talks aimed at agreeing how to finance the future of international development have hit gridlock. Less than a month before a critical summit on the topic in Addis Ababa, the states of the United Nations, rich and poor alike, should be raising their game, setting ambitious plans to improve the lives of millions of people currently denied basic services like health care or education. Instead, there’s a standoff over who is responsible for delivering a new deal, and a general refusal by governments to put their money where their mouth is and sign up to meaningful targets.
Read more: The world's poorest need help, not bickering, from wealthy democracies
