Promises and Perils of UNCTAD 14 in Nairobi
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- Written by J. Nastranis / IDN
- Category: Articles
UNCTAD14 will showcase an organization “with one foot rooted in history and both eyes looking to the future”, assures the communications and information unit of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development.
Civil society organisations from around the world are however concerned at the prospect of UNCTAD moving toward forcing developing countries to take the role of engines to increase trade. This, they say, would tantamount to the organisation deviating from its mission to support the use of trade for development, the more it risks becoming redundant and irrelevant.
But official sources says that while the the six-day UNCTAD14, opening in Nairobi (Kenya) on July 17, has special historical significance, it makes important concessions to the future. Some 52 years ago, for example, Geneva hosted UNCTAD1, at that time the biggest conference ever, with 4,000 delegates from 120 countries.
The African Union: a turning point?
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- Written by Vijay Makhan
- Category: Articles
The eyes of Africa are this week turned to Kigali, host of the African Union Summit, where a new Chairperson of the AU Commission will be elected. The Summit presents yet another opportunity for African Heads of State and Government to place the continental body on a new path that will genuinely respond to the needs and aspirations of the African people.
Spotlight Report on Sustainable Development
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- Written by Reflection Group
- Category: Articles
Independent monitoring and review of the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and its structural obstacles and challenges are key factors for the success of the SDGs. It is for this reason, the Reflection Group on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development together with other civil society organizations and networks has produced the first annual Spotlight Report assessing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the structural obstacles in its realization. The report puts a spotlight on the fulfillment of the 17 goals, with a particular focus on inequalities, responsibility of the rich and powerful, means of implementation and systemic issues.
What are currently the main obstacles to achieving the SDGs? Are there transnational spill over effects that influence or even undermine the implementation of the goals? Are the current policy approaches, as they are reflected, inter alia, in the 2030 Agenda, an adequate response to the challenges and obstacles (or are they part of the problem)? What has to be done? Which specific policy changes (at international level) are necessary?
Download the full report here (pdf)
Social Justice: social protection for all, decent work, essential services, tax justice and other egalitarian alternatives to debt and austerity measures
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- Written by Francine Mestrum
- Category: Articles
Background note to the Asia Europe People’s Forum 11, Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, 4-6 July
‘At the level of people, the system does not work’ (J. Stiglitz)
Common challenges
When I started my research on poverty some twenty years ago, more particularly on the international poverty discourse of international organisations, I soon found out that this new focus in development had nothing to do with poverty, poor people or, for that matter, development. Ten years after the introduction of neoliberal structural adjustment programmes, it was mainly meant as a legitimation of these policies. Indeed, not only were there no worldwide poverty statistics, but the World Bank, who was the main proponent of this poverty approach, did not propose any change in its policies. From that moment onwards, 1990, neoliberalism was ‘sold’ in the name of poverty reduction.
International is out and National is in
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- Written by Roberto Savio
- Category: Articles
A sign of the time is that Germany is raising a revolt against the President of the European Commission, Jeam-Claude Juncker, whom Chancellor Angela Merkel imposed in 2014 after a strong fight with David Cameron, then a powerful British PM. The group of Visograd, , formed by Poland, Hungary, Slovaquia and the Czech Republic, which resurged from ashes, to become an anti Brussels voice, has requested to bring back the Commission under the authority of the States. When Merkel organized a meeting of the leaders of the six original founders of the EU, in Berlin, she invited Donald Tusk, the President of the Council, but not Jean-Claude Juncker, who is the President of the Commission. And Wolfgang Schauble, the German minister of Finance, has launched an appeal: “it is time to bring back Brussels under the control of the states. “
South-South Dialogue in Geneva
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- Written by Adriano José Timossi / GGDP
- Category: Articles
A Dialogue on South-South Cooperation in the context of the Right to Development discourse and the launch of a new book India's Approach to Development Cooperation were held on the side-lines of the 32nd Session of the Human Rights Council at the UN in Geneva on Monday, 27 June 2016 on the occasion of the commemorations of the 30th Anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration on the Right to Development.
Adopted thirty years ago, on 4 December 1986, the Declaration on the Right to Development recognized development as a comprehensive economic, social, cultural and political process aimed at the constant improvement of the well-being of all individuals and peoples, on the basis of their participation in development and in the fair distribution of its benefits. The declaration calls upon states to implement effective development cooperation and for the removal of barriers to development at national and international levels.
The event was jointly organized by the South Centre, the Permanent Mission of India to the UN in Geneva, the Research and Information System for Developing Countries (RIS) and the Asia Foundation.
Below is a summary of the dialogue.
China-led Development Bank pledges 500 million $ to Asian Projects
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- Written by Thalif Deen / IPS
- Category: Articles
The Beijing-based Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB), which was launched last year with the aim of funding projects on a continent with some of the world’s most populous nations, has pledged over $500 million in four concessional loans to Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan and Tajikistan.
All projects, to be funded by the AIIB, will be “lean, green and clean”, according to the bank’s President Jin Liqun.
Read more: China-led Development Bank pledges 500 million $ to Asian Projects
Protest against condemnation of whistleblowers
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- Written by Eurodad
- Category: Articles
Tax Justice campaigners today condemned the punishment of Antoine Deltour and Raphaël Halet – two whistleblowers who were instrumental in exposing the infamous ‘Luxleaks’ scandal.
Delaware: Home to 66 % of top 500 US firms
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- Written by DAISUKE IGARASHI
- Category: Articles
WILMINGTON, Delaware--When passing through the main street of this town of approximately 70,000 people, I arrived at 1209 North Orange Street. The light brown, two-story building is owned by CT Corporation, a registered lobbying group.
According to the state, this one building is the registered address of approximately 315,000 companies.
The British newspaper The Guardian reported that large companies such as Apple and Walmart, as well as companies associated with U.S. presidential front-runners, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and real estate mogul Donald Trump, all have addresses registered here.
Will Bill Gates' chickens help the poor in Africa?
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- Written by Joseph Hanlon and Theresa Smart
- Category: Articles
Bill Gates announced on 7 June that he is giving 100,000 chickens to the poor because chickens are “easy to take care of” and a woman with just five hens in Africa can make $1000 per year. For Mozambique where we work, this is remarkable – fewer than 2% of Mozambican farmers make $1000/year. What a wonderful idea. Why did no one think of this before?
Actually, they did. For a decade, Mozambique has had its district development loan fund, known locally at the “7 million” because the initial fund was Meticais 7 million per district. Most farm families have chickens running around, and one of the most common requests for loans from the fund is from people who agree with Gates that chickens are “easy” and they want to expand to commercial production. Nearly all fail, and cannot repay their initial loan. Perhaps the problem is not the initial five hens.
Read more: Will Bill Gates' chickens help the poor in Africa?
The World Bank's existential crisis
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- Written by David Pred and Natalie Bugalski / Huffington Post
- Category: Articles
The World Bank is having an existential crisis.
For decades, the bank was the premier development finance institution, doling out loans to developing countries without rival.
The World Bank was also a pioneer - though not always willingly - in creating standards to protect people who could be harmed by its investments. In 1980, it became the first development agency to create a resettlement policy, which aims to ensure that communities displaced by bank-funded projects are not left worse off.
