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	Privatising public services is no way to fund sustainable development by ONE, Council of Canadians, Bond UK, agencies   25 May 2015 (ONE International)   The DATA Report 2015: Putting the Poorest First   2015 is a year that will shape the course of history. A new set of Global Goals – the Sustainable Development Goals – will be launched in September, which will set out the path to a fairer, more prosperous world and an end to extreme poverty.   But goals alone are not enough – they need a clear plan of action and the resources to deliver it. In mid-July, governments will convene for the Third International Conference on Financing for Development in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: this will be the pivotal point of the year. The world needs a new global compact to finance the end of extreme poverty which is targeted at those who need it most – the poorest countries and the poorest people, particularly girls and women.   The 2015 DATA Report looks ahead to the Addis Ababa Conference, setting out key commitments that can be game-changers, particularly for those living in the poorest nations, the least developed countries (LDCs).   ONE is advocating for a mutual accountability pact to meet the most basic needs, like health and education, which will require increased mobilisation of international and domestic resources. Everyone must raise their levels of ambition and play their part.   The key components of this mutual accountability pact include:   Minimum spending levels on essential services such as basic health, education and some social protection, which will be provided through:   Increased domestic government revenues; Increased ODA to 0.7%, with half allocated to LDCs; Specific investments in agriculture, infrastructure, energy and technology, in order to support sustainable, inclusive growth and development.   Delivery of a data revolution to help support a robust accountability framework that sets out clear mechanisms for ensuring that commitments are followed through.   http://www.one.org/international/policy/data-report-2015/   May 22, 2015   Blue Planet Project says privatising public services is no way to fund sustainable development   Blue Planet Project campaigner Meera Karunananthan spoke at a United Nations side event yesterday during the fifth session of the Post-2015 negotiations process (May 18-22). She has been working with allies around the world to ensure that the human right to water and sanitation is explicitly named and respected in the United Nations Declaration for the Post-2015 Development Agenda, which includes the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).   The side event was titled ''Addressing Corporate Accountability and Unregulated Private Sector Participation in the Post-2015 Development Agenda: Implications for Follow-up and Review''. It was organized by the Blue Planet Project, NGO Mining Working Group, Franciscans International, Public Services International and co-sponsored by the Republic of Palau.   Karunananthan argued that privatising public services is no way to fund sustainable development.   That was also her argument in an op-ed co-authored with War on Want trade campaigner Mark Dearn that was also published in the Guardian newspaper in the United Kingdom yesterday.   In that op-ed, Karunananthan and Dearn write, "In its 2014 world investment report, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) estimates the SDGs will require between $3.3 trillion and $4.5 trillion a year to implement. Proponents of privatisation have used this funding gap to promote the case for greater private sector participation, particularly in the global south. But before the United Nations (UN) creates a new channel for foreign investments in public services it needs to take a closer look at the history of the private sector ''leaving behind'' the most marginalised and vulnerable."   They note, "Without an economic incentive to serve poor communities, the private sector will not ensure universal enjoyment of the human right to water and sanitation. A Public Services International Research Unit (PSIRU) study shows that private sector investment results in very few new connections in parts of the world where the need is greatest, such as sub-Saharan Africa and south Asia."   And they highlight, "There has been a sharp increase in the use of investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS). UNCTAD records indicate that, in the 50 years to the end of 2014, there have been a total of 608 known ISDS cases, with 58 new cases in 2012, and 42 in 2014. A new investment agreement is concluded every other week. ...ISDS undermines state sovereignty by allowing investors to make recourse to a separate court system that enables them to sue states when policies threaten present or future profits. ...The fundamental premise of ISDS means southern countries must absorb the double impact of privatisation and investment treaties."   Karunananthan and Dearn then conclude, "With the rise of investment treaties giving primacy to ''corporate rights'', and no legally binding international mechanisms to hold these corporations accountable for human rights violations, greater private sector participation in water and sanitation projects through the SDGs will only exacerbate the water and sanitation crisis around the globe."   http://canadians.org/blog/blue-planet-project-says-privatising-public-services-no-way-fund-sustainable-development http://www.ohchr.org/FR/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=16031&LangID=E   http://www.afj.org/press-room/press-releases/more-than-100-legal-scholars-call-on-congress-administration-to-protect-democracy-and-sovereignty-in-u-s-trade-deals   May 2015   Letting Corporations Sue Governments Protecting the Environment is No Way to Solve the Water Crisis, by Maude Barlow, Meera Karunananthan.   As the world looks for innovative solutions to solve the rapidly worsening water crisis, two Salvadoran experts toured Canada this month to promote a simple strategy that could save the public billions of dollars.   Yanira Cortez, Deputy Attorney for the Environment for El Salvador''s Human Rights Ombudsperson''s Office and Marcos Gálvez, President of the Association for the Development of El Salvador are calling on Canadians to help solve the water crisis by challenging investor-state dispute settlement (ISDS) mechanisms that have enabled corporations to sue governments for hundreds of millions of dollars when policies aimed at protecting the environment threaten corporate profits.   The United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) reports that the number of known investor-State disputes reached 514 in 2012 and argues that foreign investors are increasingly resorting to investor-State arbitration. Many of these cases target national environmental policies and environmentalists argue that the very threat of ISDS puts a chill on environmental policymaking, making investment treaties a serious obstacle to the bold strategies required to address a rapidly deepening environmental crisis.   Salvadorans are currently awaiting a ruling in a six-year legal battle initiated by Vancouver-based mining company Pacific Rim and now pursued by the Canadian-Australian firm Oceana Gold, which acquired Pacific Rim in 2013. In spite of the fact that Pacific Rim had failed to meet Salvadoran regulatory requirements, the company is suing El Salvador for USD $301 million for not having granted them a permit to operate a gold mine. The case is being heard at the World Bank''s International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID), which exists outside of national jurisdiction. Its mandate is to examine the rights of foreign investors without taking into consideration domestic human rights, labour and environmental laws.   El Salvador -- a small, densely populated country of 6 million people -- is one of the most water-stressed countries in the world. The country''''s battle against mining is directly linked to initiatives taken within the past decade to develop long-term strategies to address its urgent water crisis. According to Yanira Cortez, Deputy Attorney for the office of the Human Rights Ombudsperson, the water crisis is a ticking bomb. A 2010 study by El Salvador''s Ministry of National Resource and the Environment (MARN) found 98 per cent of water sources were deemed to be contaminated and unfit for drinking.   In 2005, when residents of Cabanas learned that a Canadian company, Pacific Rim, had begun explorations for a gold mining project in the area, they commissioned an independent review by U.S hydrologist Robert Moran. He discovered that the mining company''s assessments had serious gaps: it lacked the baseline water quality and quantity data required for an accurate examination of watershed impacts; it also failed to consider the costs to the community of its use of large quantities of water free of charge.   Moran''s report concluded that the project would spell disaster for two thirds of the country''s population who are dependent on the Lempa River watershed for their drinking water, livelihoods and other basic needs. A movement to protect the Lempa River watershed emerged out of the struggle against the mining project and evolved into a national coalition to ban metal mining in the country, known as La Mesa Frente a la Mineria Metalica (National Roundtable Against Metal Mining). La Mesa''s message rapidly resonated across the country. A bill to ban metal mining has the support of more than 62 per cent of the population.   A de facto moratorium was declared in 2008 when then-President Antonio Saca of the ARENA party agreed not to issue new mining permits. Three successive Salvadoran Presidents have maintained the moratorium.   The Salvadoran Parliament has been negotiating a new water policy proposal since 2012 to address the water crisis. It would grant greater power to Salvadoran communities currently engaged in battles against multi-national corporations by setting up a hierarchy of water use that would prioritize domestic use and local food production. It would also give impacted communities the right to consent to the use of community water supplies.   Costa Rica, which has a ban on open-pit metal mining, is facing a similar lawsuit by Calgary-based Infinito Gold, which is suing the government for $94 million.   Cortez and Gálvez are calling on Canadians to join the push to eliminate ISDS in order to prevent future lawsuits. The tour will highlight the fact that investor-state dispute settlements have been equally harmful to Canadian environmental measures. Most recently, Lone Pine Resources used the dispute settlement provisions of the North American Free Trade Agreement to sue Canada for $250 million in compensation and potential lost revenue due to Quebec''s ban on fracking.   Oceana Gold''s investor-state dispute settlement is one of nearly 200 new cases being heard at the International Center for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID). ISDS has become a powerful weapon for some of the most environmentally unfriendly corporations in the world. However, corporations are only able to sue the states who sign trade agreements or investment treaties containing ISDS provisions.   All it takes is political will for governments to walk away from ISDS commitments and reclaim the right to protect their own environment. El Salvador recently reformed its investment law to prevent future lawsuits by foreign investors. Brazil has never signed any treaty with ISDS provisions. Indonesia, South Africa, Bolivia, Ecuador and Venezuela are revisiting their bilateral investment treaties.   Getting rid of ISDS in itself won''t solve the environmental crisis. But it would give communities like those in El Salvador the ability to develop their own environmental strategies without the threat of being sued by abusive multinational corporations.   * Maude Barlow is the national chairperson of the Council of Canadians, chairperson of Food and Water Watch in the U.S., and co-founder of the Blue Planet Project. Meera Karunananthan is the National Water Campaigner of the Council of Canadians. http://www.blueplanetproject.net/   21 May 2015   ICAI scrutinises DFID support to business. (Bond UK)   The Independent Commission for Aid Impact (ICAI) has published a report on how the Department for International Development (DFID) works with and through business.   Graham Ward, ICAI Chief Commissioner, said: “DFID have clearly stated their intention to work more with business and there are great potential benefits for the poor from this collaboration. We are concerned, however, about how DFID will translate these goals into practical actions without more strategic oversight of business engagement activities and without concrete targets.”   Responding to the report Ben Jackson, Chief Executive of Bond, the membership body for international development NGOs said, “We welcome the attention the ICAI report brings to this increasingly important area and in particular the pressing need to prioritise a focus on the poor. We are concerned about the report’s finding that so far DFID’s work on business growth and investment cannot be shown to benefit poor people – a serious challenge given the share of the aid budget directed towards private sector investment.   "There is also limited evidence that DFID support to businesses is actually additional to what those businesses would have done anyway. Channelling precious aid into enterprises who potentially don’t really need it – rather than into priority essential services such as health and education – runs the risk of experimenting on the backs of the poor.”   Alison Griffiths of Practical Action, Chair of the Bond Private Sector Group, said, “The report concludes that ''the link between business engagement and reducing poverty is not always clear''. NGOs have been raising concerns with DFID for a couple of years about whether and how those in poverty will benefit from their new strategic focus and the increased spend on private sector development.   "We call on DFID specifically to promote inclusion of the people in the poorest parts of the world by looking at a broad spectrum of the private sector, particularly micro businesses and those operating in the informal sector, which provide opportunities or goods and services to strengthen livelihoods.   "We also stress that private sector development will only be inclusive and truly beneficial if environmental sustainability is also prioritised. All actors must operate within planetary boundaries and promote both the sustainable use of natural resources and climate protection."   http://www.bond.org.uk/news.php/457/icai-scrutinises-dfid-support-to-business   International agency ActionAid is calling on leaders from the world’s richest nations meeting at the G7 Summit in Germany in June to end the G7’s New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition which they say is driving large scale land grabs across Africa, and replace it with genuine initiatives to support small scale food producers.   The New Alliance initiative was launched at the US-hosted G8 summit (G7 plus Russia) and pledged to lift 50 million people out of poverty in Africa by 2022, by investing in agriculture.   ActionAid’s new report reveals that 1.8 million hectares of land have been offered to foreign investors in Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal and Tanzania under New Alliance commitments.   In Malawi alone, a country where one in five people are undernourished, one million hectares are being offered to investors – more than a quarter of the country’s total arable land.   ActionAid USA’s Senior Policy Analyst, Doug Hertzler, said: “President Obama has pledged billions of US dollars to support the New Alliance. But the money is helping big international companies set up huge plantations growing crops for export, rather than supporting Africa’s poorest farmers.”   The US committed almost a third of the funding for this $5.9bn initiative to improve agriculture, but so far the promise of tackling poverty and food security has failed to bring benefits to small scale farmers.   ActionAid has joined with more than 100 African and international organizations in calling for an initiative that prioritises the needs of small farmers and involves communities in deciding their future.   http://www.actionaidusa.org/news/g7-must-end-support-new-alliance-says-actionaid http://farmlandgrab.org/post/view/25006-call-of-civil-society-organizations-to-their-governments-on-the-new-alliance-for-food-security-and-nutrition-in-africa http://www.actionaid.org/publications/great-land-heist http://blogs.oxfam.org/en/blogs/14-10-06-leaving-leadership-council-new-alliance-food-security-and-nutrition http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/resources/statement-warning-g7-threat-new-alliance-holds-small-scale-farmers http://www.globaljustice.org.uk/blog/2015/may/21/maybe-giving-aid-money-big-business-doesnt-solve-poverty-who-knew http://namati.org/protecting-community-lands/ http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/voluntary-guidelines/en/ http://www.fao.org/nr/tenure/whats-new/may-2015-newsletter/en/ http://www.landcoalition.org/en http://www.landmatrix.org/en/
	We should definitely crackdown on corruption by Stephen McDonell Foreign Correspondent China   What do China"s own people think about where their country is going?   ABC China Correspondent Stephen McDonell takes the pulse of the world"s most populous nation through the lives of seven people in a single city, the old capital Nanjing.   "They want to tear down our house and confiscate our land", says the mother-to-be fighting eviction by developers. "President Xi has taken down lots of bad guys", says the young university student. "The Communist Party has to loosen its grip because it"s the trend of history", says a former TV journalist who now tells dissidents stories.   "Just 15 years ago there wasn"t a single Chinese company that could have developed a mobile phone" says the software entrepreneur who"s grown his company from 10 staff to more than 2000. "We"re now in a better place" - the young environmental activist who names and shames big polluters.   "We should unite with the common people of Japan" - says the elderly Xia Shuqin, who was eight years old when she was stabbed by invading Japanese in the "Rape of Nanking".   As a former state prosecutor, Shen Liangqing has seen the widespread payment of bribes, the awarding of contracts to friends, the hiding of laundered money in the accounts of family members. He says corruption is everywhere within Chinese officialdom.   Shen Liangqing: "Every official has shit on his arse. The question is whether or not you investigate. If you do, they will have problems. I am very pessimistic. We should definitely crackdown on corruption.   Shen Liangqing worries that the anti-corruption drive is part of a Communist Party power play with President Xi Jinping promoting his allies. Others think positive change can come from the ground up.   Ordinary people like Xu Juan, who believe they"ve been wronged by corrupt officials, find their way to Sun Lin.   Stephen McDonell: She says that developers have been trying to force her family and her neighbours out of their homes, and that she"s been fighting back on their behalf.   Xu Juan: "They offered us 4,000 yuan per square metre but the 2011 local housing price had already surged to 20,000 per square metre. The gap is huge".   Stephen McDonell: She says most of her neighbours have already caved into the pressure to leave. In this former community only 8 families are still holding out for what they say is fair compensation. Xu Juan says paid thugs, working with officials, have been sent around to try and bully the remaining residents into leaving. She is seven months pregnant when we speak to her.   Xu Juan: My demands are just - and yet they use thugs against me. It only shows how shameless the Government is".   Stephen McDonell: The problem of forced evictions is a huge one in China. We stumble across a protest outside a municipal government office in downtown Nanjing. As soon as we arrive, people who claim they"ve had their homes stolen are eager to speak.   WOMAN #1: "They didn"t notify me before demolishing my house. Now I have nowhere to live".   POLICEMAN: "You"re making us lose face in front of the foreigners".   WOMAN #1: "I"m from Nanjing City, Gulou district. Meitanggang Road, number 5".   Stephen McDonell: The woman proudly declares her name and address to the camera despite police urging her to be quiet.   WOMAN #1: "Because I spoke to you today I might now be thrown in jail".   Stephen McDonell: "Have you all come here with the same problem or different grievances?"   WOMAN #1: "We"re all the same".   Stephen McDonell: "You"re here because your houses have been demolished?" They also have stories of violent evictions.   WOMAN #2: "You can see my parents were beaten to death. Both houses were my legal property. They took our houses and they beat us".   Stephen McDonell: The police bring out their own camera to capture us, but they"re also interested in the demonstrators. The authorities film as those who"ve spoken out give their contact details. The police tell us to stop recording. The residents keep coming.   WOMAN #3: "I tell you my house was demolished illegally. They took it. It"s been six years, six years and they haven"t paid me. Give me back my house. No compensation. They beat me. They detained me. What can I do?"   Stephen McDonell: Then plainclothes officials arrive and familiar questions are asked.   OFFICIAL: "Hello. I am from the Propaganda Department of this district"s Party Committee. Do you have a journalist card?".
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