ICSID and Latin America
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- Written by Nicolas Boeglin
- Category: Analysis
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
- Category: Analysis
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
- Category: Analysis
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
- Category: Analysis
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
- Category: Analysis
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
- Category: Analysis
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.”
Social Security for Women in India
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- Written by Anupma Mehta - PWESCR
- Category: Documents
Social security for women in India, despite the existence of multiple Government sponsored schemes, is an issue that has not yet been tackled efficiently as these schemes still fail to reach the most marginalised women in society. Due to a series of systemic failures, women’s lives and work are adversely impacted in both the productive and reproductive domains. There is, thus, an urgent need to efficiently implement social security schemes for women in order to counter their vulnerability in our society.
What are the social security needs of women in India? What are the gaps in the social security discourse for women in India? How can these gaps be bridged? How can the social security system in India recognise and honour women’s rights to social security in their individual capacities as rights-holders apart from their position in a household, their age or marital status? How can the women have platforms to share their concerns and influence policy-making? How can social security concerns promote livelihood security for women and help them move up the value chain of production and marketing? How can social security systems in India redistribute the burden of caring for the family, children and the elderly that is exclusively shouldered by women?
These were some of the very important questions explored at Conference on Women’s Social Security and Protection in India on 6–7 May 2013, New Delhi organised by The Programme for Women’s Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (PWESCR), in collaboration with UN-Women, Heinrich Böll Foundation, ILO and UNSW. This report captures the discussions and deliberations that took place among over 170 delegates from over 16 states as they participated together to identify and unpack various perspectives on the issue of social security for women in India. These participants brought together a diverse range of participants from the Government, trade unions, women’s organisations and UN agencies on a common platform.
WTO is gambling with our future
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- Written by SMAA, Gerak Lawan, Via Campesina
- Category: Analysis
The Bali Package jeopardizes our right to Food Sovereignty;
The Bali package is a total sham for the poor and hungry of the world. Why should humanity beg the WTO for a peace clause to guarantee the right to food? The whole negotiation of the Bali package is nonsense. The right to food, the right to survival of small farmers cannot be subjected to any kind of negotiation in the WTO or in any place.
WTO: Third World Agriculture at risk
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- Written by Devinder Sharma / IPS
- Category: Analysis
Not finding anything wrong in legitimate domestic food aid programmes, 30 farm commodity export groups have however expressed concern at the price support programmes, which have more to do with boosting farm incomes and increasing production than feeding the poor.
These U.S. farm commodity export groups, which ironically receive monumental federal support every year, have questioned the need to provide any relaxation in current discipline even on a temporary basis. Accordingly, such an exemption will result in more subsidy outgo and result in further damage to U.S. trade interests.
This response comes in the wake of a representation by 15 of the major farmer unions of India, including the Bhartiya Kisan Union (BKU) and the Karnataka Rajya Ryota Sangha (KRRS), to Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh: Forth-seven years after the green revolution was launched, India is being directed at the World Trade Organisation (WTO) to dismantle its food procurement system built so assiduously over the past four decades.
Climate justice, not loans: World Bank and ADB must “stop the madness”
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- Written by Reality of Aid Network - Asia Pacific
- Category: Analysis
A few weeks after super typhoon Yolanda (Haiyan) wreaked havoc in the Visayas in central Philippines, afflicting some 10 million people across 36 provinces and is feared to have claimed more than 10,000 lives, multilateral development institutions such as the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the World Bank extended financial assistance mostly in the form of loans for relief operations in areas hit by the super typhoon.
The ADB and the World Bank have offered around US$1 billion in total loans to finance the massive rehabilitation and reconstruction requirement following the devastation in affected areas. The Philippine government said it wanted to take advantage of the available cheap financing, which comes mostly in the form of soft loans. It claims that the two creditors offered very low interest rates, which is well below one percent, and maturities of between 20 and 30 years.[i] The government said it might consider borrowing more from multilateral institutions and less from the international capital market to take advantage of the available cheap financing that has become even more accessible following the calamity.
Read more: Climate justice, not loans: World Bank and ADB must “stop the madness”
FTT in German coalition agreement
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- Written by Peter Wahl/Weed
- Category: News
The coalition treaty between German Social Democrats (SPD) and Christian Democrats has been concluded.
As far as the FTT is concerned the relevant part reads (in my translation) as follows:
"We want to implement rapidly a broad based financial transaction tax in the framework of the Enhanced Cooperation Procedure in the EU. Such a tax should include preferably all financial instruments, in particular shares, bonds, investment certificates, currency transactions as well as derivatives. The tax should be designed in a way, which prevents tax avoidance. The effects of the tax on pensions, small investors and the real economy have to be assessed and negative consequences should be avoided, while undesired business models should be pushed back."
(Page 64).
First assessment:
