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	Argentina: Women demonstrate against cuts to public food assistance by OHCHR, Open Democracy, South Centre, agencies   Dec. 2024   A year into Javier Milei’s presidency, Argentina’s poverty hits a 30 year high at nearly 53 percent reports the Argentine Catholic University   For nearly 40 years, Argentina’s poverty level had consistently hovered above 25 percent. But since the far-right Milei took office on December 10, 2023, that figure has skyrocketed.   Over the last year, the poverty rate reached nearly 53 percent, the highest in 30 years, according to a research team at the Argentine Catholic University (UCA) that has kept track of key economic indicators. Milei’s radical “chainsaw” approach to slashing public spending has led to dire social welfare consequences.   Eduardo Donza, one of the experts behind the UCA study, warned that those who fell under the poverty line this year included people with jobs and higher education.   Argentina’s rent-control law was one of the first casualties of the Milei administration when it took power last December. Rents can now be increased every three months. Many low-income workers said the lack of protections have caused price hikes they cannot afford, and they are struggling to afford to eat.   Without price controls for services like electricity and gas, utility rates have also spiralled higher. Spending on gas, for example, increased by 715 percent between last December and October.   Informal workers make up close to half of Argentina’s workforce, and poverty among the group is high: Close to 66 percent are now considered impoverished.   The extreme austerity policies the Milei administration has increased the rate of unemployment, with policies focused on attracting foreign investment via generous tax breaks, deregulation of worker’s rights, and environmental standards - including a commitment to exit the Paris Climate Agreement and the Sustainable Development goals.   Milei has initiated massive budget cuts (30% or more) to the Government funding for public health, education, social welfare & safety net programmes, the university sector, public transportation, domestic violence programs..   The life expectancy for the majority of Argentinians is predicted to fall precipitously in the coming years, though national economic elites and transnational corporations are expected to profit handsomely.   http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/2024-R2SSC-Case-Studies-Argentina.pdf   Nov. 2024   New report exposes the dangers of Milei’s climate-wrecking economic reforms and why the EU-Mercosur trade deal should finally be dropped, report from the Climate Action Network Europe and Latin America   As EU-Mercosur negotiations are speeding up, rumoured to be advancing around the G20 summit in Brazil next week and sealed by the end of 2024, a new report by Climate Action Network (CAN) Europe and Climate Action Network Latin America (CANLA) uncovers the climate-wrecking economic shock plans by Argentina’s far-right President Javier Milei, and how the EU-Mercosur trade deal risks fueling Argentina’s social-ecological crisis and climate-breakdown.   If ratified, the EU-Mercosur deal will boost harmful industries by increasing trade in products such as beef, soy, pesticides banned in the EU, combustion cars and raw materials that are among the biggest drivers of deforestation, greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss and displacement of Indigenous peoples in Argentina and other Mercosur countries.   Audrey Changoe, Trade and Investment Policy Coordinator at CAN Europe and co-author of the report, said:   “Milei’s climate denialism and ‘chainsaw policies’ combined with the outdated EU-Mercosur trade deal is a recipe for disaster. The EU-Mercosur deal is based on a text from 25 years ago and totally out of sync with the reality of the climate crises we face today.   ‘Mileinomics’ coupled with the EU-Mercosur deal could cause critical ecological spillovers globally, as it will further threaten South America’s second-largest forest, the Chaco forest, also one of the planet’s largest carbon sinks.”   Fossil fuel expansion above democratic rights   Amid harsh repression of protesters, a sweeping economic reform bill was adopted in June, granting Milei unprecedented powers to roll back environmental and democratic rights with the aim of advancing the new Large-scale Investment regime (RIGI). The RIGI’s primary goal is to boost large-scale investments in oil, gas, mining, agribusiness and forestry sectors.   While extractive industries profit from far-reaching economic benefits and investment protection under the investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanism, RIGI does not include any social or environmental requirements for these industries.   The creation of a special “Security Unit”, tasked to mobilize military forces in extractive regions, underscores the Milei administration’s intent to suppress social resistance to these destructive projects.   Maristella Svampa, renowned Argentinean environmentalist and co-author of the report, said:   “Milei’s reforms severely undermine our democratic rights. It includes the notorious ISDS mechanism allowing corporations to sue the provincial governments in secretive corporate courts, instead of our domestic courts, if they believe public policies, including environmental protection measures, interfere with their profits. Argentina is already the world’s most sued country in investor-state disputes, including claims by major fossil fuel giants such as Total Energies, BP and Repsol.”   The EU, which claims to be a champion of the green transition, is willing to do business with the climate-sceptic far-right president in Argentina and is rushing to finalise the environmentally damaging EU-Mercosur trade deal. The EU-Mercosur deal is set to exacerbate Argentina’s crisis, where poverty rates have reached historic levels of 55%, boosting unchecked extractivist industries, with damaging consequences for people’s fundamental rights to a healthy environment and a safe climate.   Three-quarters of Europeans want the deal to be scrapped if it leads to deforestation and environmental damage. Yet despite widespread opposition, including from small-scale and medium-sized European farmers, the European Commission is now trying to create a shortcut to changing the voting process which would bypass the scrutiny of national EU governments critical of the deal, undermining democratic rights, and violating the negotiation mandate.   Laura Restrepo Alameda from Climate Action Network Latin America said:   “No greenwashed annexes can fix this inherently bad deal. It is built to promote trade in products driving deforestation, land grabbing, massive pesticide use, carbon emissions and human rights violations. The deal pushes South America further into ecological collapse and props up a destructive neo-colonial economic system that drives social inequalities. The deal will severely affect the collective rights of Indigenous communities who already bear a disproportionate burden of the climate crisis and outrageously were never consulted about the deal.”   http://caneurope.org/media-mileinomics-eu-mercosur-deal/ http://www.thenation.com/article/world/donald-trump-and-elon-musks-man-in-buenos-aires/ http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/trump-project-2025-argentina-milei-far-right/ http://www.passblue.com/2024/11/18/argentinas-right-turn-at-the-un/ http://www.wwf.eu/?15842666/EPP-with-support-of-far-right-dismantles-EU-Deforestation-Regulation-in-an-attack-on-forests-and-climate http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/11/08/eu-dont-weaken-anti-deforestation-law http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/nov/04/climate-crisis-europe-farmers-vulnerable-far-right http://eeb.org/eu-delayed-bans-for-dangerous-chemicals-ombudsman http://insideclimatenews.org/news/07062024/eu-parliamentary-election-global-climate-policy   Mar. 2024   Argentina: Women demonstrate against cuts to public food assistance, reports Angelina de los Santos for Open Democracy   Argentinian women from all walks of life will take to the streets nationwide on 8 March, International Women’s Day, as part of a feminist strike calling for an end to the country’s growing poverty, which already affects 57% of the population of 46 million.   The protesters’ “most important demand” is a solution to Argentina’s “food emergency”, said Maria Claudia Albornoz, an activist from La Poderosa, a group that defends the rights of the five million people living in the country’s 6,500 slums, or villas miseria (misery villages).   Three months after right-wing libertarian president Javier Milei took office, Argentina’s ever-increasing food inflation has reached 56%, according to the latest analysis from La Poderosa. Government data shows the country’s annual inflation rate is 254%.   Real-terms wages and pensions are deteriorating, and people go to supermarkets not knowing whether the money in their pockets will be enough to buy foods they could afford just a few days ago.   Shoppers have one certainty, though: what were once basic goods such as shampoo are now luxury items. The small local grocery stores that allow their customers to pay on an informal trust-based credit system now keep track of only the items and quantities purchased, no longer bothering to note down the prices that are constantly rising.   The spiralling cost of living has been worsened still by Milei’s cuts to ‘ollas populares’, community kitchens run by social, civil and religious organisations, which are a last resort for the most impoverished families.   There are around 44,000 of these kitchens across Argentina, which were able to produce around 10 million meals a day last year.   Since then, Milei’s administration has stopped the government packages of non-perishable food staples, such as pasta, rice and yerba mate (a traditional herbal drink) being sent to these kitchens, arguing that it must conduct an audit on how they use these resources.   The cuts have led to “a very desperate situation”, said Albornoz, whose group La Poderosa runs 158 kitchens nationwide.   “Without these basic food staples, we cannot cook,” she said. “This causes us enormous distress, sadness and pain, because we can't feed our families, a role that is very much attached to women and gender non-conforming people.”   Protesters have taken to the streets nationwide to demand the cuts are reversed, but the government has doubled down.   Ministers claim the kitchens’ volunteers – many of whom are part of larger groups of organised unemployed, informal workers and leftist activists known as ‘picketers’ – are committing “extortion” by using food to lure people to their protests. They say they made the cuts to end this practice, advising people to enrol in the government’s food support program rather than relying on the community kitchens.   The minister of human capital, Sandra Pettovello, even mocked protesters as they gathered outside the ministry, saying: “Boys, are you hungry? Come one by one and I'll write down your ID number, your name, where you're from and you'll receive help individually.”   But four days later, as more than 10,000 people lined up to meet her, Pettovello signed a $210,000 food assistance agreement with the Christian Alliance of Evangelical Churches of Argentina. “No longer will the picketing organisations be in charge of distributing food and social plans paid for by the national state with the money contributed by working Argentines,” she said.   It is primarily the austerity measures, growing poverty and worsening food insecurity that the 8M feminist strike will denounce this week.   For the first time since feminists began holding open decision-making assemblies in 2015, participants have agreed to make tackling hunger the demonstration’s priority.   Organisers have drafted a manifesto to read out during the demonstration, which includes statements aiming to challenge ‘libertarian’ ideas advocated by Milei, such as: “With hunger and without rights, there is no freedom” and “Enough of austerity and repression”.   Assemblies allow any civil society group or individual to present their concerns to be discussed. They have achieved something that no other social movement in Argentina has managed to: working together to tackle issues of reproduction of domestic and community life, as well as formal and informal work.   But in previous years, the assemblies’ middle-class feminists, who are more likely to be educated, have sought to give priority to protests on issues such as access to abortion, femicides and gender-based violence.   Now, as the country’s economic situation has worsened, their goals have shifted. They are now in agreement with working-class feminists, who have long argued that food security must be their top concern.   “What seems to me to have changed this year is that we are a priority,” Albornoz said. “Feminists were able to begin to reach a consensus on issues that we, the slum dwellers – the people who cannot cover the basic food basket – consider a priority.”   The food basket Albornoz referred to are the essential food items required to sustain an adult for a month. These cost $110 when converted from pesos at the official exchange rate, more than half the average monthly earnings of a person living in an urban area ($218).   The assemblies allow villeras (women who live in slums), feminist academics, trade unionists and LGBTIQ people to share their lived experiences and political thinking, which has enabled the feminists to agree on strategies of resistance.   This is more important than ever, as the misogynist discourse Milei regularly touted during his election campaign has in recent months materialised as an avalanche of regressive measures stripping away the rights of women and LGBTIQ people.   The president has scrapped the Ministry of Women, Gender and Diversity, replacing the entire department with an undersecretariat for protection against gender violence in the newly created Ministry of Human Capital.   His government has also ended two support programmes for victims of gender violence – one that sought to strengthen their economic independence, and another that provided psycho-social and legal help – and fired many of the public employees who worked on the hotline for counselling and assisting victims.   It also closed the National Institute against Discrimination, Xenophobia and Racism, and banned the use of language that is inclusive and gender-neutral in public offices or documents. Defending the move, presidential spokesman Manuel Adorni said inclusive language was being weaponised as “a political business”.   The government has further plans to weaken or dismantle legislation that feminists fought for, such as the 2019 Micaela Law, which introduced mandatory training in gender and gender violence for all public servants and the Law on the Voluntary Interruption of Pregnancy, which legalised abortion in 2020.   Ministers claim these closures and austerity cuts are needed to fix the ailing economy, but the main attacks on women and LGBTIQ people have come from the president himself.   In his speech at the World Economic Forum in Davos in mid-January, Milei spoke of “the cruelty of the bloody agenda of abortion”, said gender inequality no longer exists and branded feminism “a ridiculous and unnatural fight between men and women”.   Feminists fear the president’s misogyny, combined with his cuts, mean Argentina is “heading towards a scenario of worsening violence in general and gender violence”, according to Raquel Vivanco, who founded the Observatorio Ahora Que Si Nos Ven (the Now That They See Us Observatory), which tracks femicides in the country.   “These structural conditions of extreme poverty and unemployment, as they increase inequalities, create more violence that can in turn increase numbers of femicide statistics,” said Vivanco.   There were 42 femicides in Argentina in January and February of this year. The observatory recorded the highest-ever number of femicides (297) in 2019, which was rightist president Mauricio Macri’s last year in office and was characterised by austerity policies that were harsh but not as extreme as those being introduced by Milei.   Though widespread hunger and attacks on women’s rights are the protesters’ main priorities, they also want Milei to address his measures of ‘economic terror’ and his denials that gender inequalities exist in Argentina.   Lucia Cavallero, a sociologist and researcher at the University of Buenos Aires and a member of Ni Una Menos (Not One Less), a group that fights gender violence, told openDemocracy about the dire economic situation in Argentina.   “There is an unprecedented devaluation of the peso, a deliberate freezing of wages and social subsidies, so inflation is brutal, and a perverse discourse of warning that it could be worse,” she said. “Added to all this is the deregulation of the economy in almost all areas.”   The government’s own data shows that one million people fell into poverty every month for the past three months. Albornoz believes these figures are an underestimate, though, telling openDemocracy that La Poderosa's analysis indicates an increase of six million impoverished people in the past two months.   Argentina’s school year recently started, forcing many families to try to find creative solutions to not being able to afford school supplies, which cost an average of $150, or uniforms.   The best case scenario saw children reuse items from previous years or pick up supplies from the donation drives that took place across the country. At worst, though, “mothers said they would have to choose which children to send to school because they don't have the school supplies or the smocks to send them all,” said Cavallero.   The effects of this economic and political turmoil are also being seen in housing, particularly since the government repealed the law regulating the rental market on 29 December.   “It left us tenants with absolutely no rights,” said Tamara Lescano, an activist from the social movement Inquilinas Agrupadas (Tenants United). “The lack of a legal framework enables real estate abuse”.   Rental contracts now have no minimum period and are able to be terminated at landlords’ discretion, without a need to consult the tenants or give a reason for the eviction – which was previously illegal. Landlords can also include unreasonable clauses in the tenancy agreements.   Lescano said the private rental sector in Argentina, which already encompasses some 10 million people, is growing – yet fewer and fewer landlords own more properties than ever.   Inquilinas Agrupadas receives an average of between 40 and 50 requests for advice every day, mainly from women with dependent children, pressured by their mostly male landlords.   The 8M strike faces a fresh challenge this year. Four days after Milei took office, his government outlawed any public protest involving the blocking of roads with a new ‘anti-picketing’ protocol that contains specific clauses allowing the police to criminalise, persecute and stigmatise protesters.   “They identify you in the marches, they take pictures of you, they film you. When we mobilise, the police, who are very violent, quickly repress us,” said Albornoz.   “This has already happened at various times,” she added, referring to hundreds of protests against Milei’s austerity measures that have been organised by different social organisations across the country in recent months.   The protocol also allows the government to issue protest organisers with hefty fines, deprive demonstrators of social aid, and punish parents or guardians who take minors to the marches.   These measures are attempts to intimidate the poorest, many of whom are women, said Gabriela De la Rosa, a member of the Polo Obrero, a social organisation which runs 3,000 community kitchens nationwide.   “The movement of the unemployed is made up mostly of women, who mobilise with their entire families because they have no one to leave their children with in order to demand food for their children,” De la Rosa told openDemocracy. “On the picket lines, in the encampments, in the mobilisations, the families often have a pot to eat, and at home, they don't.”   As well as the risk of harsh policing, Argentinian feminists worry their protest could turn violent – fearing Milei’s repeated attacks, coupled with food insecurity and the general uncertainty caused by inflation and low wages, have set the stage for social unrest..   http://www.opendemocracy.net/en/5050/women-argentina-food-crisis-hunger-soup-kitchens-cook-common-pots-milei/ http://odi.org/en/insights/100-days-of-president-milei-argentine-democratic-resilience-under-threat/ http://english.elpais.com/international/2024-04-24/argentina-gripped-by-one-of-the-largest-protests-in-20-years-public-education-is-an-inalienable-right.html http://www.context.news/socioeconomic-inclusion/argentinas-austerity-measures-under-milei-put-women-at-risk http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/07/argentina-civil-societys-urgent-call-protect-rights/ http://www.ituc-csi.org/Argentina-why-we-stand-in-solidarity http://www.desmog.com/2023/08/22/javier-milei-argentina-atlas-network/   Aug. 2024   UN rights experts call for an end to post-election repression in Venezuela. (UN News)   The Venezuelan Government must immediately end escalating repression that has come in the wake of the disputed presidential election last month, a UN Human Rights Council-appointed body investigating alleged rights abuses there said on Monday.   The Independent International Fact-Finding Mission also urged the authorities to thoroughly investigate a spate of grave rights violations that are currently occurring in the South American country.   Venezuelans went to the polls on 28 July and President Nicolas Maduro was formally declared the winner the following day, securing a third term in office.   The UN Fact-Finding Mission noted that in the weeks since the vote, street protests and criticism on social media have been met with fierce repression by the State, as directed by its highest authorities, inducing a climate of widespread fear.   The independent rights experts recorded 23 deaths between the period from 28 July to 8 August, the vast majority caused by gunfire. Most victims, 18, were men under the age of 30.   “The reported deaths during the protests must be thoroughly investigated, and if the excessive use of lethal force by security forces and the involvement of armed civilians acting in collusion with them are confirmed, those responsible must be held accountable,” said Marta Valinas, Chair of the Fact-Finding Mission. She stressed that “victims and their families deserve justice.”   After analyzing data published by various human rights organizations, the Mission said it can preliminarily conclude that at least 1,260 people have been detained in Venezuela since 28 July, including 160 women.   Most detentions, 18 per cent, occurred in the capital district, followed by the states of Carabobo and Anzoátegui. Data from the Attorney General’s office indicates that at least 2,200 people, indiscriminately labeled as "terrorists,” have been detained.   The Mission members have identified common elements in the detentions, which qualify them as arbitrary and constitute serious violations of due process, thus leaving individuals unprotected within the justice system.   They said these elements include summary hearings conducted remotely by the Terrorism Courts in the capital, Caracas, even if the events occurred elsewhere.   The mission is also looking into the imposition of serious criminal charges - such as terrorism, conspiracy, and hate crimes - without supporting evidence, or applied in a disproportionate manner; the denial of information to family members, or the provision of late and incomplete information, and preventing detainees from appointing their own legal counsel.   “All individuals arbitrarily detained must be released immediately,” said Patricia Tappatá, an expert of the Mission. “The authorities must strictly adhere to international standards regarding due process and detention conditions, using formal channels to communicate with family members.”   The Mission said that among those detained are leaders, members and supporters of political parties, journalists, and human rights defenders, considered or perceived by the authorities to be in opposition.   The vast majority, however, were simply individuals who voiced their rejection of the presidential election results announced by the authorities. Many of the detentions occurred after individuals participated in protests or expressed their opinions on social media, with authorities selectively targeting them at their homes.   The experts have received particularly concerning information about the detention of over 100 children and adolescents who have been charged with the same serious crimes as adults. Moreover, they said these children have not been accompanied by their parents or guardians during judicial proceedings.   “The Mission strongly recalls the obligation to ensure that detained children are treated in strict compliance with international child protection obligations, respecting their best interests,” said Francisco Cox, another of the experts.   http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/08/1153081 http://news.un.org/en/story/2024/07/1152606 http://www.cartercenter.org/news/pr/2024/venezuela-073024.html http://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2024/07/venezuela-un-fact-finding-mission-expresses-alarm-over-human-rights http://www.ohchr.org/en/hr-bodies/hrc/ffmv/index   22 July 2024   Brazil’s president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva has urged Venezuela’s government to respect the result of next Sunday’s election, saying he had been “frightened” by Nicolas Maduro’s warnings of a “bloodbath” if he loses the vote.   After 11 years in power, Venezuela’s leader is currently trailing in opinion polls to the opposition candidate, the retired diplomat Edmundo Gonzalez, and in recent weeks, Maduro and his allies have stepped up their predictions of post-election violence following what they say will be a victory for the ruling party.   On Monday, Lula repeated calls for Maduro to honour his commitments to hold fair elections.   “I have told Maduro that the only chance for Venezuela to return to normality is to have a widely respected electoral process,” he said. “He has to respect the democratic process.”   Maduro was elected in 2013, after the death of his mentor Hugo Chavez; his 2018 re-election was widely criticised as unfair. At a rally on Wednesday, he said the fate of Venezuela depended on his re-election this Sunday for what would be a third term in office.   “If you don’t want Venezuela to fall into a bloodbath, into a fratricidal civil war, due to the fascists, let’s ensure the greatest success, the greatest victory in the electoral history of our people,” he said.   Lula, who for many years has refused to openly criticize the Venezuelan leader, said he had been “frightened” by Maduro’s words, adding: “When you lose, you go home and get ready to run in another election.”   In May, the Venezuelan government revoked the invitation for the European Union to send observers – something to which it had previously committed – adding to concerns over the fairness of the elections. Dozens of people linked to Gonzalez’s campaign have been arrested this year.   “If Maduro wants to contribute to resolving the return of growth in Venezuela, the return of people who left Venezuela, and establish a state of economic growth, he must respect the democratic process,” said Lula.   * 1/8/2024: The governments of Brazil, Colombia and Mexico have issued a joint statement calling on Venezuela's electoral authorities “to move forward expeditiously and publicly release” detailed voting data.   The Government controlled National Electoral Council (CNE) declaration that Mr Maduro won has sparked two days of protests, with the country's opposition saying voting tallies show its candidate, Edmundo Gonzalez, won by a wide margin. NGOs say there have been at least 11 deaths in protest-related violence and that dozens more have been injured. The US-based Carter Center - which was invited by Venezuelan officials to monitor Sunday's presidential poll - said it could not "verify or corroborate the results of the election declared by CNE".   http://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/29/venezuela-election-nicolas-maduro-edmundo-gonzalez-urrutia-results http://www.theguardian.com/world/article/2024/jul/30/venezuela-election-2024-maduro-maria-corina-machado-edmundo-gonzalez http://www.theguardian.com/world/venezuela   July 2024   Honduras’ Tax Justice Law: Increasing tax collection to achieve the SDGs without increasing tax rates. (South Centre, agencies)   In April 2023, the government of Honduras submitted a tax reform bill called the “Tax Justice Law” to the National Congress through which it intends to reform the Honduran tax system with potential for improved revenue collection, that too, without introducing new taxes or increasing tax rates.   The law aims at Constitutional recognition that tax collection must be progressive, change the principle of taxation from territorial to worldwide taxation of income, introduce Ultimate Beneficial Ownership requirements that inter alia aim to repeal bearer shares, facilitate exchange of information with other jurisdictions, eliminate banking secrecy for tax purposes, implement credit method in domestic legislation to eliminate double taxation, amend the Constitution so as to limit tax exemptions to a maximum period of 10 years, restore transfer pricing audits to check abusive claim of tax incentives and eliminate the possibility of forgiving tax debts.   The provisions contained in the Tax Justice Law are timely and welcome, particularly in light of the Global Minimum Tax. They can improve government revenues, reduce public debt and create the fiscal space for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.   85 leading economists endorse the Tax Justice Law proposed by the Government of Honduras.   We, economists from around the world, support the government of Honduras’ proposed Tax Justice Law. We view the proposed changes as critical for reducing inequality in Honduras, supporting social and economic development and closing pervasive tax loopholes that undermine tax revenues.   Honduras has struggled to raise appropriate revenues from corporate taxation and wealthy individuals, especially following a series of exemptions and loopholes created by successive post-2009 coup governments. These loopholes, coupled with banking secrecy and opaque systems of masking beneficial ownership, placed Honduras on the path to being labelled a tax haven.   The total lost to these loopholes and exemptions in the period 2010 to 2023 is more than the entire national public debt in Honduras. According to official statistics, Honduran national public debt stood at $16.6 bn USD at the close of 2023. It is estimated that the value lost to the treasury from tax exemptions and loopholes granted between 2010 and 2023 is $20.1 bn USD.   The Tax Justice Law seeks to turn the page on this period. It institutes the progressive principle that those with more should pay more, simplifies the tax system to remove loopholes and increases transparency. The Law proposes to close the loopholes that permitted large-scale corporate tax avoidance, end corporate profit shifting as a method to reduce tax by assessing global, not just national profits, tax corporate and individual income received from abroad, end tax debt write-downs, which served as a disincentive for meeting tax liabilities promptly and in full, end banking secrecy for tax matters, make beneficial owners of corporations liable for taxation, shining a light on opaque corporate structures, and promote the international exchange of information to improve tax justice through ratifying the OECD’s Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax Matters, of which 147 countries currently participate.   Taken together, this robust package of reforms is likely to raise revenue for the Honduran state without increasing tax rates or creating new taxes. It also strikes a blow against the global tax haven regime and banking secrecy industry, setting an example to other countries whose tax jurisdictions are currently used to undermine the tax takes of other states through facilitating tax dodging.   Such tax transparency will likely aid Honduras’ development with greater funds available for social, economic and environmental goals. As part of the Law, the Honduran government is proposing two new tax regimes aimed at industrial development and foreign investment. Unlike previous tax incentives, these will be time-limited, only for specific taxes and with controls to ensure public benefit, through job creation and development.   The global consensus among economists and policy makers holds for an urgent need to deal with tax dodging, tax havens and banking secrecy zones, in addition to further developments.   Following the leadership of the African countries Group, all countries of the world are now participating in the Ad Hoc Committee to Draft Terms of Reference for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation. The terms of reference, to be completed by August this year, will form the basis for the creation of a globally inclusive tax body aimed at delivering on this crucial agenda.   Furthermore, in 2021, more than 130 countries, under the OECD Inclusive Framework, agreed on a series of measures, including a global minimum tax on large corporations at the international level. In addition, in March of this year, the G20 Brazilian Presidency, began discussions to consider, for the first time, greater progressivity in the taxation of the income of the super-rich, including the possibility of establishing a minimum level of taxation on large fortunes.   Meanwhile, in Latin America, progressive tax reforms are being promoted within intergovernmental regional integration organisations, where the role of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States (CELAC) will be important. Lastly, the Regional Platform for Tax Cooperation for Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC) has also been articulated and seeks to unify the voice of the countries of the region to better represent the interests of its peoples in international processes, and to advance in a coordinated manner in international forums.   Honduras’ proposed Tax Justice Law puts these principles into action. We express our support for the reform package that is set to establish a fairer and more robust system of taxation and incentives that will provide a sounder footing for Honduran development.   Such a Law has implications far beyond Honduras’ borders, setting an example of how states can assert sovereignty through taking action against tax injustice individually and collectively.   * Signatories include Josee Antonio Ocampo, Joseph Stiglitz, Jayati Ghosh, Jeffrey Sachs, Gabriel Zucman, James Galbraith, Magdalena Sepuulveda Carmona, Emmanuel Saez, Luis Moreno, Martin Guzman.   http://www.southcentre.int/southviews-no-270-26-july-2024/ http://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/SV270_240726.pdf http://www.warren.senate.gov/oversight/letters/senator-warren-representative-doggett-call-for-elimination-of-investor-state-dispute-settlement-system-action-on-behalf-of-honduran-government http://insideclimatenews.org/news/15092024/foreign-investor-legal-claims-threaten-to-bankrupt-honduras/ http://insideclimatenews.org/project/cashing-out/
	World Bank & IMF: Support States to Realize the Human Right to Social Security by Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors   Oct. 2024   New global index reveals that nine out of ten countries worldwide are pursuing policies that are likely to increase levels of economic inequality.   94 percent of countries (94 out of 100 countries) with current World Bank and International Monetary Fund (IMF) loans have cut vital investments in public education, health and social protection over the past two years, according to a new report published today by Oxfam and Development Finance International (DFI).   The figure is even higher for International Development Association (IDA) countries, the world’s poorest countries —95 percent (40 out of 42 countries) have pursued such cuts.   “These cuts are not just dispiriting; they’re dangerous and fundamentally anti-development,” said Kate Donald, Head of Oxfam International’s Washington DC Office.   “Too many Global South countries are facing the agonizing choice between investing in education and health or adopting austerity measures to keep up with crushing debt payments. These decisions come at a terrible human cost — millions of people depend on public services to thrive and build better lives for themselves and their children.”   “Last year, we applauded the World Bank for finally making inequality an institutional priority. But our latest findings show that both the Bank and IMF have a lot of work to do if they are to genuinely contribute to tackling inequality rather than perpetuate it,” said Donald.   In 2023, under growing pressure from economists, shareholders and civil society, the World Bank introduced its first-ever “vision indicator” aimed at reducing the number of countries with high inequality (Gini of 0.4 or above). Despite this step forward, the Bank has watered down previous commitments to support progressive taxation, including increased taxation of the super-rich.   Tackling inequality has so far not been incorporated into the policy framework for the upcoming replenishment of the Bank’s IDA, which provides grants or low-interest loans to the world’s poorest countries, over half of which are in Africa. Inequality is high or increasing in 54 percent of countries that receive funds from IDA.   Using the latest data from government budgets, the “Commitment to Reducing Inequality (CRI) Index 2024” ranks 164 governments on their policies regarding public services, tax, and workers' rights —policies central to reducing inequality. This year’s edition shows that, for the first time since the Index began in 2017, the majority of countries are backsliding across all the three critical areas.   Overall, 84 percent of countries have cut investment in education, health and social protection, 81 percent weakened their tax systems’ ability to reduce inequality, and in 90 percent of them, labour rights and minimum wages have worsened..   http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/dispiriting-dangerous-anti-development-education-and-health-cuts-nearly-every http://www.inequalityindex.org/ http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/10/world-bank-imf-are-missing-the-mark-on-social-security/   Apr. 2024   World Bank & IMF: Support States to Realize the Human Right to Social Security - Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors   Ahead of the 2023 annual meetings of the World Bank and IMF, 71 civil society organizations supported the release of a joint statement calling on the Bank and IMF to change their social protection policies and practices.   The group of signatory organizations urged the IMF and the World Bank to commit to realizing the right to social security, end poverty-targeted programs in countries without universal coverage, support equitable and sustainable public systems, and to halt austerity measures that threaten rights.   We restated our concerns with the start of the 2024 Spring Meetings, in an open letter to World Bank and IMF executive directors, proposing four measures to realize the right to social security.   Human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations wrote to the World Bank Group (WBG) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) Executive Directors to express concerns that the WBG and the IMF are failing to support States to realize the human right to social security for all.   The letters were sent in the framework of the Spring Meetings of the Boards of Governors of the IMF and the WBG that are taking place from April 15 to 20, 2024, in Washington DC.   Dear Executive Directors,   We, the undersigned human rights, faith-based, and economic justice organizations, are writing to express concerns that the World Bank and IMF are failing to promote the human right to social security for all.   We are proposing four policy changes that would advance the right to social security in line with human rights standards, and we would like to meet with you to explore how your office may support them.   As underlined by the Global Partnership for Universal Social Protection to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (USP2030), which the World Bank is co-chairing, “universal social protection is a human right and key to recovery, for a green transition and sustainable and inclusive economic and social development for individuals, communities, and nations”. At present, however, over half of the world’s population has no access to even one social security program.   Among international development actors, the World Bank is the largest funder of social protection systems. Despite the World Bank’s commendable commitment in 2015 to promote universal social protection, we are concerned that the World Bank continues to promote narrowly targeted “safety nets,” where eligibility hinges on estimates of the extent of poverty that have acknowledged large exclusion errors, rather than embracing a more inclusive and rights-aligned universal approach.   Research by Oxfam International and others found that 85 percent of the world’s population lives in countries where governments’ austerity measures impede their ability to deliver on their human rights obligations. While as part of its country assistance programs, the IMF has increasingly included some level of protection for social spending, the Fund continues to promote heavily means-tested programs that cover only a tiny fraction of the population. This undermines global efforts to work towards universal social protection systems consistent with human rights.   The negative impacts of this approach are well-documented, especially in countries without universal social security systems and where the majority of people work and live in informal settings. Evidence shows that such programs are often designed too narrowly and exclude many of the poorest.   “The poor” is not a static group, and in reality, households dynamically move between societal welfare rankings over short periods. Further, most governments lack up-to-date data to accurately identify “the poor.” “Targeting” is also vulnerable to mismanagement or corruption.   By focusing only on people in poverty or even extreme poverty, these programs exclude large segments of the population who may not be considered “poor” at one moment but are far from enjoying their rights. They also fail to build a shared sense of solidarity and can undermine trust within societies.   Further, through macroeconomic policy advice, the World Bank and IMF have a history of undermining public social insurance systems by promoting individualized savings schemes such as privately managed pensions, over investment in public systems. Recent reforms in some countries have further eroded the right to social security, leading to reduced coverage and lower benefits.   In some countries, these changes involved cuts to employer contributions or reduced benefits for the majority in the public system. Research by the International Labour Organization (ILO) shows that privatization of social insurance in some countries worsened poverty and inequality, disproportionately affecting women and older people.   The current approach taken by the World Bank and IMF falls short of their obligations under international law. International financial institutions have an obligation to avoid causing harm by not demanding cuts or a re-design of social security programs that would undermine rights, and to provide as many resources as they can to help build universal social security systems that are rights-aligned.   The Bank and IMF have an opportunity to course-correct and adopt a rights-aligned approach to social security that sets the tone and leads the way toward more just societies and economies.   We strongly urge the World Bank and IMF, as pivotal actors in financing and shaping social security policies in low- and middle-income countries, to take four measures to progressively realize the right to social security:   Support states to realize the right to social security. Immediately commit to support states to progressively realize the right to social security. This involves setting up or strengthening rights-aligned social security systems, including the establishment of social protection floors in line with ILO Recommendation 202.   Replace the focus on poverty-targeting with universal systems. Stop funding new poverty-targeted programs and phase out existing ones, along with related technologies and privacy-invasive infrastructure such as social registries. Additionally, strengthen a fair distribution of resources by coupling universal social security with fiscal reforms that reduce inequality.   Support equitable and sustainable public systems. Support equitable and sustainable social security systems in accordance with international standards, including by promoting adequate employers' contributions and adequate social security benefits to ensure income security. Avoid pension privatization and instead strengthen public social security systems.   Cease harmful austerity budgeting reforms. Halt austerity policies that threaten rights and privatize social security and refrain from promoting social spending trade-offs. Cease conditioning loans on austerity measures and promoting austerity as a policy priority for governments.   Ensure that any increase in social spending in one sector, for instance on social security, does not come at the expense of other rights.   http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/04/world-bank-and-imf-executive-directors-promote-the-human-right-to-social-securityworld-bank-and-imf-executive-directors http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/04/15/letter-world-bank-and-imf-executive-directors-failings-promote-human-right-social http://www.hrw.org/news/2024/10/17/world-bank-imf-are-missing-mark-social-security http://www.equaltimes.org/the-b-ready-index-the-world-bank-s http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/05/policy-brief-social-protection-for-climate-justice-why-and-how/ http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/social-security-for-all/ http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/income-inequality-high-or-rising-60-percent-countries-loans-imf-and-world-bank http://www.ituc-csi.org/ITUC-report-Trade-unions-demand-reform-to-address-global-sovereign-debt-crisis http://www.brettonwoodsproject.org/2023/12/world-bank-and-imf-promoting-private-finance-and-fiscal-consolidation-despite-mounting-evidence-of-harmful-impacts/ http://www.hrw.org/news/2023/09/25/imf-austerity-loan-conditions-risk-undermining-rights http://www.ipsnews.net/2024/01/ppps-private-gain-public-expense/ http://www.ohchr.org/en/statements/2021/10/joint-statement-independent-united-nations-human-rights-experts-warning-threat Visit the related web page
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