Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 164 - April 11, 2014

The increased influence of corporations over the UN development agenda was highlighted by several civil society organizations last April 8 in New York. During a side-event at the Church Center, (see the video here) different worrying trends were highlighted: the redefinition of ODA that will put more public funds in the hands of corporations, the lack of accountability of the different associations between corporations and UN agencies and the privileged access that big corporate players may be getting over international norm-setting. At the General Assembly hearing on partnerships, Roberto Bissio denounced how information access is being made more restrictive under corporate pressure. Brazilian Ambassador Guilherme Patriota condemned the "outsourcing of development responsibilities" and announced his country opposition to the UN Partnership Facility proposed by Secretary General Ban Ki-moon. See the video here.

Is European Union really committed to Human Development? EU has made an undeniable progress in promoting the integration of policy coherence for development (PCD) at the discursive level, nevertheless European policies developed in the last five years have not only had profoundly negative consequences for other countries and people, but have made living conditions significantly precarious for large part of the population living in Europe. There appears to be a more than significant gap between the policy commitments undertaken by the European institutions and Member States, and the real actions to promote greater PCD at both EU and national levels. Read more.

The World Bank is a structural driver of the land grabs that is dispossessing and impoverishing rural communities across the globe. It is a central player that is using its financial and political might to force developing countries to follow a pre-prescribed model of development, based on the neoliberal principles of privatization, deregulation, low corporate taxation and ‘free market’ fundamentalism. Evidence clearly shows that this model overwhelmingly favors large agribusiness interests at the expense of smallholders, and is designed to extract the maximum value from developing countries’ natural and human resources.

Join us to tell the World Bank that it has no business in ranking countries and opening them up to foreign corporations thirsty for the extraction of their resources and the exploitation of their work force. Read more

A statement issued today by the ITUC and its Global Unions partner organisations in advance of this weekend’s Spring Meetings of the IMF and World Bank (Washington, 11-13 April) calls on the international financial institutions (IFIs) to take concrete actions to follow through on their announced intentions to pay greater attention to employment and inequality issues. The ITUC notes the IMF’s World Economic Outlook forecast made on Tuesday that economic growth will strengthen in 2014, in large part because of “a strong reduction in the pace of fiscal tightening”. ITUC General Secretary Sharan Burrow stated: “We are pleased to see the IMF recognise that drastic fiscal consolidation policies have been a drag on growth, something that unions have been saying since the inappropriate shift to austerity made in 2010.” However she also observed that threats to growth may increase in emerging-market economies because of capital outflows. “The IFIs should help boost aggregate demand in countries with output and employment gaps and ensure that their financial support maximises decent work creation,” said Burrow. Read more

Following the non-renewal of the contract of Anita Nayar as head of the Non-Governmental Liaison Service of the United Nations, the Coordinating Committee of Social Watch expressed its concern. Read the letter here