Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 328 - July 6, 2018

Issue 328 - July 6, 2018
 
   
 

Switzerland and the 2030 Agenda: Domestic policy is foreign policy!

   
 
Swiss civil society – organized in the Platform Agenda 2030 – presented its report entitled «How sustainable is Switzerland? Implementing the 2030 Agenda from a civil society perspective».
Eva Schmassmann, President of the Platform Agenda 2030, believes that measures are urgently needed to stem the outflow of tax money from developing countries into tax haven Switzerland: «Through tax avoidance and tax evasion, developing countries are losing an estimated US$200 billion in tax revenues annually. They urgently need these funds to pay for implementation in their countries.» Read more

 

   
   
 

Czech gender equality NGOs fear loss of European funding

   
 
Jana Smiggels Kavková.
Photo: Jan Sklenář / Czech Radio
Despite the Czech Republic stagnating in the worldwide effort to bring about gender equality, the country's government plans to cut funding for equality projects significantly in the coming years. That is according to the Czech branch of the international NGO network, Social Watch.
Eurostat data sets the country's pay gap at more than 20 percent, while at the same time the difference between men and women being able to find employment lies at 15 percent.
Markéta Mottlová, an analyst at Social Watch, says the Czech Republic doesn't even reach the European average in terms of the gender pay equality. Read more

 

   
   
 

If the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is to respond effectively in the years ahead to the challenges in a world in which both globalization and liberal democracy are increasingly under attack, it will need a different mindset from the modified neoliberalism that currently sets the parameters of its thinking.
This is the assessment of Philip Alston, the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, in his latest report to the UN Human Rights Council.
In his report that focuses on the IMF and its impact on social protection, Mr Alston said that the IMF is the single most influential international actor not only in relation to fiscal policy but also to social protection, even if both it and its critics might prefer that this were not the case. Read more

 
   
   
 

The transformation of our world, as proclaimed in the title of the 2030 Agenda, requires fundamental changes in the way that our societies produce and consume goods and services. The private sector has a particular role to play in this regard. But far too often there is a considerable gap between the social and environmental commitments companies make and the actual effects of their activities on people and the environment. At the international level, instruments to hold corporations accountable for human rights abuses and the violation of social and environmental standards are weak. Even in the 2030 Agenda, governments are mandated only to “encourage companies, especially large and transnational companies, to adopt sustainable practices and to integrate sustainability information into their reporting cycle” (SDG target 12.6). In light of the inadequacy of existing instruments, a growing number of governments, NGOs, academics, and even business representatives are calling for legally binding rules on business and human rights. Read more

 
   
   
 

There are increasing warnings of an imminent new financial crisis, not only from the billionaire investor George Soros, but also from eminent economists associated with the Bank for International Settlements, the bank of central banks.
The warnings come at a moment when there are signs of international capital flowing out of some emerging economies, including Turkey, Argentina and Indonesia. Read more

 
   
 
SOCIAL WATCH IS AN INTERNATIONAL NGO WATCHDOG NETWORK MONITORING POVERTY ERADICATION AND GENDER EQUALITY
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