Trade Union Demands for Paris Climate Talks
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- Written by ITUC
- Category: Articles
Speaking at the conclusion of the Trade Union Climate Summit of 250 trade union leaders from Ghana to Brazil, Canada to the Philippines and climate experts, Foreign Minister Fabius heard union demands for a climate agreement which delivers and commits to just transition and ambition on climate change.
“Unions have been disappointed to see that workers and their families have been left out of the draft climate agreement and have called on the French Presidency to ensure just transition language is reinstated,” said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary, the International Trade Union Confederation.
Retreat of foreign investment from Africa means less looting
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- Written by Patrick Bond
- Category: Articles
Governments across Africa are obsessed with foreign direct investment. Yet every year the continent losses billions of dollars through illegal financial outflows connected with FDI. More money is lost through legal transfers of super-profits and foreign investors are responsible for distorting national economies.Governments across Africa are obsessed with foreign direct investment. Yet every year the continent losses billions of dollars through illegal financial outflows connected with FDI. More money is lost through legal transfers of super-profits and foreign investors are responsible for distorting national economies.
Read more: Retreat of foreign investment from Africa means less looting
UN General Assembly adopts sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
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- Written by Third World Network
- Category: Articles
The United Nations General Assembly adopted a resolution on principles to guide sovereign debt restructuring processes on the afternoon of 10 September.
This landmark resolution was submitted to the General Assembly by South Africa (current chair of the Group of 77 and China developing countries). It was initiated by Argentina in the wake of the vulture funds lawsuit by an international hedge fund against the country.
Read more: UN General Assembly adopts sovereign debt restructuring mechanism
Capital Flight and illicit financial flows to and from Myanmar
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- Written by Spanjers, Kar / GFI
- Category: Articles
This September 2015 study from Global Financial Integrity found that nearly US$100 billion flowed illegally through Myanmar between 1960 and 2013— draining domestic resources, driving the underground economy, exacerbating inequality, and facilitating crime and corruption.
An End to Global Poverty: Philanthropy, Welfare Capitalism, or Radically Different Global Economic Model?
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- Written by Andy Summer / CGD
- Category: Articles
There have been numerous estimates of future poverty to 2030 based on projections of growth and inequality that rely on informed assumptions and guess work. With that method, no matter how carefully done, you’re almost certain to get it wrong. So Peter Edward and I decided to do something different: look back at growth and its distribution since 1990 and see what it would have taken to have ended global poverty by now based on the actual data.
The answer(s): a modest redistribution of growth over that period, akin to global philanthropy, could have ended $2-a-day poverty, and more substantial redistribution through welfare regimes could have ended $4-a-day poverty. But to end $10-a-day poverty would have required a different form of economic organization altogether.
The ‘true costs’ of supporting the private sector through development finance institutions driven by rich countries
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- Written by Paria Romero / Eurodad
- Category: Articles
The last few years have seen a sharp increase in development finance institutions’ (DFIs) annual financial commitments. This reflects an increased interest in, and funding for, private sector development by most European governments and multilateral institutions, such as the World Bank and others. As a result, they are becoming major actors in the world of development finance.
DFIs lend and invest money – public money or publicly guaranteed money – to private sector companies operating in developing countries. The activity of DFIs has come under close scrutiny from several civil society organisations, including Eurodad, as well as think tanks and academics, investigating whether they are truly delivering development outcomes.
Africa no longer hopeless, but voiceless
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- Written by Samson Demissie Teffera / Pambazuka
- Category: Articles
A profound change has taken hold in Africa over the last decade and half. So has a change in the world's perception of the continent. In 2000, The Economist magazine heralded Africa on its front page with a regrettable title: "The Helpless Continent." This is the world's premier economic newsmagazine that was established in 1843 with a mission "to take part in a severe contest between intelligence, which presses forward, and an unworthy, timid ignorance obstructing our progress." It took only a decade for ignorance to give way to intelligence. In 2011, the magazine sported a front page shouting aloud: "Africa Rising." Two years later its front page flagged an "Aspiring Africa."
Unions and Business sign a solid agreement on jobs and living standards at G20 Labour and Finance Ministers Meeting
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- Written by ITUC
- Category: Articles
Sharan Burrow, General Secretary International Trade Union Confederation said if followed up on, it has the potential to be the strongest agreement since the B20 and the L20 began working together as social partners with the G20.
Social commons and social transformation
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- Written by Francine Mestrum
- Category: Articles
In a remarkable essay on social movements in Latin America, published on ‘Upside Down World’ (http://upsidedownworld.org/main/index.php) Raul Zibechi states that social policies are ‘counter-insurgency policies, meant to tamp down on mass movement activity’.
It is not the first time I hear this. Many people think that most social policies are ‘assistentialist’, do not contribute to the constitution of social agents and only help to avoid revolutionary movements. This is far too generalizing. It explains why it is so difficult to put social justice on the agenda of leftwing social movements and parties.
I do not agree with this statement.
How to feel good about Poverty?
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- Written by www.therules.org
- Category: Articles
Ask small questions and you get small answers; ask BIG questions, and you start to see the BIG picture. The United Nations, big NGOs and huge corporations have lots of answers, but are they asking the right questions?
Right now the UN and co. are building up to telling the world that they can solve global poverty by 2030 with what is essentially business as usual – endless growth of the global economy, with some trickle-down to the poorest. But there’s a problem with this story; it’s irresistible, it’s glittery it’s loud… but it’s just not true.
'Narrative Power' and the UN Business and Human Right Treaty
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- Written by Dominic Renfrey/ ESCR
- Category: Articles
As the dust settles on the recent July meetings in Geneva of the new UN Intergovernmental Working Group (IGWG) on transnational corporations and other business enterprises, which kicked off negotiations towards a treaty on this topic, there are some interesting developments to consider. These developments concern how the human rights narrative at the UN related to business activities might finally be shifting toward recognition and interaction with important traditional human rights principles.
Read more: 'Narrative Power' and the UN Business and Human Right Treaty
