Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 299 - May 26, 2017

The ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development (FfD Forum) met four days at the UN headquarters in New York to review the promises made at the Addis Ababa Action Agenda and its predecessors (the 2002 Monterrey Consensus and the 2008 Doha Declaration on Financing for Development). The FfD Forum is also the place for diplomats to discuss the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but civil society is disappointed by the scarce results and the excessive confidence on the private sector filling in the funding gap.

Building capacity on tax matters is not just an issue for the global South, governments in the North should also strenghtend their own tax capacity, their own administration capacities when it cames to tax matters said Wolfgang Obenland, member of Global Policy Forum (GPF), Germany, who spoke at the event Follow-up and review of the financing for development outcomes and the means of implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Read more

Social security is a human right and in time of crisis is even more important, not just to face the crisis and the impact on people but also to estabilize the economy said Roberto Bissio, Coordinator of Social Watch, who was a speaker on behalf of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) at the side event "Financing Social Protection Floors throught economic cycles". Read more. 

See also Bissio's intervention on how PPPs are deeply linked to corruption here.

The question pertaining to the impact of States’ participation in designing an Instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises in the area of human rights on attracting foreign direct investment has been a persistent issue of discussion since the mandate of the intergovernmental group on the Instrument was established. This mandate was established by Resolution A/ HRC/26/9 of the United Nations Human Rights Council, which was passed in July 2014. It is important to contextualize this question within an understanding of the role of investment policy as one of the development and economic policy tools available to States, including the role of both domestic and foreign investments, and within an understanding of the underlying determinants of foreign direct investment. This discussion could be informed by the experience of countries reforming their positions towards investment treaties, which entail a regulatory change pertaining to foreign investors. Read more.