Global Policy Forum

Europe’s role in tax-related capital flight from developing countries 2013
▻http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/216-global-taxes/52559-giving-with-one-hand-and-taking-with-the-other-europes-role-in-t

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Giving with one hand and taking with the other - CSOs urge European leaders to take further action against tax dodging

At the European level, the report – coordinated by the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) – shows that much remains to be done. Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Coordinator at Eurodad, said: ”This week, we’re asking EU leaders to take the first step by making companies reveal to the public who their owners are, where they operate and what taxes they pay.

The second step is to ensure that the multinational companies pay their fair share of tax, both in the EU and in the rest of the world.”

She added: “For developing countries, tax dodging is especially devastating, with more money leaving their economies than what they receive in aid. While European citizens donate money to combat poverty in developing countries, multinational corporations with headquarters in Europe are making large profits in those same countries but many are avoiding their taxes. Until our governments put a stop to this, Europe is giving with one hand and taking with the other.”

This report examines the tax-related capital flight policies in 13 EU countries (Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden and the United Kingdom). Besides capital flight regulations, the report examines the actions taken by national governments to tackle money laundering, tax avoidance and tax evasion; and attitudes towards EU laws that could help solve the problem. They highlight the efforts and the shortcomings of European leaders on this issue, and propose ways forward.

Extrait du rapport

Conclusion
France is one of the countries that is most active vocally about these issues, and would like to be seen as championing them at the European level. However, the concrete results of this rhetoric remain to be seen. Pressure at national level is quite high due to media reports and public awareness. However, politicians seem to prefer talk over action. France has exhibited willingness to proactively implement country-by-country reporting for banks. On PCD, France
has also taken important steps to shield ODA from being siphoned through offshore jurisdictions. However, the list of these “non-cooperative jurisdictions” seems incomplete. Furthermore, the consistent support for OECD as the leading global actor is inconsistent with a genuine attempt to ensure PCD, at least as long as developing countries are excluded from active participation in these processes.

#taxes #impôts #évasion_fiscale #multinationales

Using Passports to Construct Enemies?

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/172-general/52142-using-passports-to-construct-enemies.html

In times of increasing mobility of individuals across borders, citizenship rights have become central to understand geopolitical disputes. This is particularly true in Eastern Europe, where passport have become weapons of foreign policy since the fall of the Soviet Union. Russian passports have certainly facilitated Abkhazian and South Ossetian separatism in Georgia and allowed Moscow to launch a military intervention in the country in 2008. Some argue that “Russia has ‘weaponized’ citizenship by combining its right to grant citizenship with its sovereign ‘right’ or ‘duty’ to protect its citizens at home and abroad.” Governments in Georgia, Latvia and Estonia have also used citizenship rights to prevent their ethnic Russian populations from gaining political power in their country. Ultimately, Xenia de Graaf concludes that “ as long as Russia and former Soviet Republics remain insecure about their national identity and need ‘significant others’ to define themselves, passport and citizenship troubles are likely to remain.”

By Xenia de Graaf
International Relations and Security Network
December 12, 2012

’Another World Is Possible’: Nationhood and Global Justice

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/172-general/52146-another-world-is-possible-nationhood-and-global-justice-.html

When the Cold War ended, many observers of international relations foresaw a new “globalized era” in which social movements and struggles for justice would be led at the supranational level, at the expense of the nation-state’s classic power channels. While recent geopolitical events have in part been shaped by new global social media, the so-called globalized power is still deeply centralized and nation-states remain the most democratic forums to effect change. In this article, Jamie Mackay argues that “the desire to declare the nation ‘dead’ is premature”: the so-called globalized system remains highly centralized and “continues to depend on key state institutions and their relationship with national communities.”

By Jamie Mackay
Open Democracy
December 11, 2012

Erdoğan Says All Countries Should Be Permanent Members of UNSC

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/226-initiatives/52069-erdoan-says-all-countries-should-be-permanent-members-of-unsc.ht

Most initiatives to reform the UN Security Council have focused on increasing the number of permanent members in order to better represent today’s geopolitical balance of power. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan now proposes to go beyond the division between “permanent” and “non-permanent” members by arguing that “if there should be permanent members, then all members of the UN should be permanent members, because the UN Charter says, big or small, all member countries are equal.” For this reason, he considers that “permanent” membership should rotate among countries on an annual basis.

Today’s Zaman

November 9, 2012

G4S Loses Contract. Handing Prisons to Any Commercial Contractor is a Grave Mistake

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/257-pmscs-risks-misconduct/52043-g4s-loses-contract-handing-prisons-to-any-commercial-contractor-

By Andrew Neilson
Open Democracy
November 8, 2012

While media outlets generally focus on the international dimension of PMSCs involved in Iraq or Somalia, one should bear in mind that Western countries increasingly employ such private firms domestically. Yet, major risks emerge when states try to combine security functions that used to be exclusively public with a profit-oriented business strategy. In the UK, the privatization of the prison system has created intense controversy. After being directly involved in the London Olympics security fiasco, the Private Security Company G4S has lost its major contract to administer the prison of Lincolnshire, United Kingdom. Ultimately, the privatization of prisons represents a threat to democracy itself as “commercial confidentiality shields the process from public view and democratic accountability.”

#privatisation #armée #sécurité

Warlords, Inc.

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/256-countries-in-which-pmscs-operate/52053-warlords-inc.html

By David Isenberg
Time
November 13, 2012#

The recent international boom of the private military and security industry is in great part the result of thirteen years of war conducted by the International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) in Afghanistan. Isenberg recalls that “the PSC industry in Afghanistan is enormously powerful, having grown from nothing to immense in a decade of war that the invaders wanted to wage with as few uniformed troops as possible.” Hence, contrary to foreign forces in Iraq, private guards operating in the country are “overwhelmingly Afghan.” Before leaving the country by 2014, ISAF will have to transfer PMSC operations to the newly created Afghan Public Protection Force (APPF). There is no doubt that the Disarmament, Demobilization and Reintegration (DDR) of such important and suddenly-unemployed armed force will be a major challenge threatening the viability of the post-invasion “nation-building” strategy.

#privatisation #armée #sécurité

The Responsibility to Protect: What is the Basis for the Emerging Norm of R2P?
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/268-humanitarian-intervention/52035-the-responsibility-to-protect-what-is-the-basis-for-the-emerging

he United Nations advocates the Responsibility to Protect (R2P), a controversial doctrine related to military interventions. Yet many fundamental practical questions remain unanswered and “no-one seems sure of what R2P even is.” Practically, there is no clearly defined legal status, set of implementing mechanisms, and monitoring bodies limiting potential for abuses, as well as “no consensus on what actions R2P actually legitimates, nor by whom or when.” In fact, Adam Branch argues that “it is precisely R2P’s indeterminacy that makes it so popular today,” as countries have the flexibility to “protect” according to their will and without worrying about their need to be accountable. Branch explains how this lack of conceptual clarity is particularly worrying for the African continent, where three-quarters of the crises in which #R2P has been invoked or applied. Ultimately, R2P engenders a divide between Western “protectors” and African states, whose legitimacy and sovereignty are to be judged by the “international community”. But it is also increasingly segmenting Africa itself as countries have to choose on which “side” they stand.

#droit_d'ingérence

Somalia: The End of a Failed State?

►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/172-general/51887-somalia-the-end-of-a-failed-state-.html

By Konye Obaji Ori
The Africa Report
September 11, 2012

When speaking of war-torn “failed states”, Somalia is often mentioned as the archetype. Indeed, Somalia has not had a functioning central government since 1991 and it is ranked today 222th worldwide in terms of GDP per capita. Yet, on September 10th, Somalia held its first presidential elections in 40 years. Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, the new President, is seen as incarnating a drive for change, promoting reform and readjustment after decades of war and poverty. However, the country’s stability is still threatened by resource-driven conflicts, arms smuggling and foreign interventions, all of these worsen by a lack of viable institutions. Will these elections really be a first step on the path towards recovery?

What does Somalia’s first presidential election in 40 years mean to a nation seeking to filter itself from the shadows of a war-torn failed state? 



#somalie #corne-afrique #failed-state #afrique-est
For observers, the answer begins with the implementation of an overwhelmingly free and fair election, respectably accepted by the outgoing president.

On Aid, Obama Sells Out Poor Countries to Big Ag
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/217-hunger/51678-on-aid-obama-sells-out-poor-countries-to-big-ag.html

Giant agribusinesses such as Cargill, Monsanto and Yara take the center in “The New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition,” a new food-aid effort for Africa launched at the recent G-8 summit in May. These companies have pledged $3 billion in new agriculture investments for the continent, most of which will be spent on building a foreign-owned fertilizer production facility. Instead of promoting for a sustainable food production, this initiative reinforces the power of agribusinesses to make profits at the expense of small-scale African farmers and local biodiversity.

#agrobusiness #multinationales #Afrique

UN “Outraged” at Sexual Abuse by Peacekeepers in Haiti
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/186-haiti/51231-un-outraged-at-sexual-abuse-by-peacekeepers-in-haiti.html

For the third time in five years, Haiti is trying to deal with the sexual abuse of minors by UN peacekeepers. Despite a “zero tolerance” policy towards sexual abuse, a training course focusing on sexual conduct, and repeated UN-issued public statements condemning the acts, there has been no effective deterrence in the sexual abuse of women and minors by peacekeepers across the globe.

#femmes #violences_sexuelles #ONU #Haïti

Colombia’s New Index to Measure Poverty Merits a Cautious Welcome
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/211-development/50649-colombias-new-index-to-measure-poverty-merits-a-cautious-welcome

Columbia has adopted a new holistic poverty reduction plan to reconcile economic development and growth with poverty eradication. The plan is based on the Multidimensional Poverty Index, a new method of measuring poverty that identifies different areas of deprivation and captures interactions between them. The new plan also recognizes the need to tackle income inequality at the same time as absolute poverty. Although Columbia’s progressive new poverty reduction plan should be applauded, it is important to note that the index only looks at outcomes and fails to address processes such as displacement, an overriding problem in Columbia.

#pauvreté

A Battle is under Way for the Forests of Borneo
►http://www.globalpolicy.org/home/198-natural-resources/50605-a-battle-is-under-way-for-the-forests-of-borneo.html

Indonesia, and in particular the island of Borneo, is plagued by deforestation. Palm oil companies are dispossessing local inhabitants of their historic land and damaging the environment. This threatens indigenous population whose survival and way of life depend on the forest. This article points out the endemic corruption problems in Indonesia as officials illegally grant land to their supporters.

#déforestation #peuples indigènes