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	Education should be central to the concept of Global Public Goods by UN Office at Geneva   November 2013   Education should be central to the concept of Global Public Goods says UN Special Rapporteur.   The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to education, Kishore Singh, has urged Governments to make education central to the concept of global public goods which is increasingly being discussed internationally.   Mr. Singh’s call came as ministers of education and high-level officials were meeting in Paris for the Education Commission of UNESCO General Conference in Paris during the debate on ‘Education beyond 2015’.   “The concept of education as public good is important in enhancing public investment in education. It is equally valuable in fostering the humanistic mission of education,” the expert said. “It provides the basis for regulating private providers of education so that the social interest in education is not sacrificed for the sake of private profit.”   “The right to education is an overarching right – it is essential for the exercise of all other human rights – and this warrants that education should be considered the foundation of the post-2015 development agenda,” Mr. Singh said quoting his report* on the ‘Right to Education and Post-2015 Development Agenda’, presented to the UN General Assembly on 28 October 2013.   “This importance should be reflected in bringing an educational element into all future development goals,” the UN Special Rapporteur stressed.   The independent expert expressed hope that the debate at UNESCO’s General Conference on ‘Education beyond 2015’ will lead to a better appreciation of the pivotal role that the right to education plays in national and international development agendas.   “I would like to especially underline the importance of taking a human rights-based approach, and in preserving the social interest in education, while promoting the concept of education as public good,” he said.   “I call for the universal recognition of human rights-based approach to development, including a strong focus on the right to education, in our collective endeavour in shaping the Post-2015 Development Agenda,” the Special Rapporteur underscored.   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/Education/SREducation/Pages/SREducationIndex.aspx   15 November 2013   One-third of the world’s population ‘without access to improved sanitation.’   The United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human right to safe drinking water and sanitation, Catarina de Albuquerque, has warned that the sanitation target set by the UN Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is today the most off-track of all, leaving around one billion people still practicing open defecation on a daily basis, and one-third of the world’s population ‘without access to improved sanitation.’   “This is a euphemism to describe the undignified life of billions of people who have no place to defecate or urinate and have to do it without conditions of safety, hygiene, privacy or dignity,” Ms. de Albuquerque said on the first UN World Toilet Day. Eighty three per cent of countries have fallen significantly behind the national targets they have set for sanitation.   “I am disappointed with the slow and insufficient progress in providing these services despite the significant political and legal commitments undertaken in the last years, including the ‘Sanitation and Water for All’ initiative - a strong political platform to gather support for increasing financing for the sanitation sector”, the expert said.   The Special Rapporteur recalled that the human right to sanitation was recognized in a landmark resolution supported by the majority of UN Member States in 2010, in order to respond urgently to this alarming situation.   “From now on,” she said, “the focus has to be on sustainable solutions for those persons who are systematically forgotten and face significant barriers in accessing sanitation – because they live with a disability, because they belong to a minority, because they are homeless, because they live in a slum, because women’s and girls’ need for privacy is not guaranteed,” Ms. de Albuquerque said.   “Twenty years after World Water Day was declared, we finally can celebrate UN World Toilet Day – an occasion to unite our global efforts with States, United Nations and relevant stakeholders to make toilets a reality for all and forever”, she noted.   The human rights expert hailed the UN General Assembly’s decision declaring 19th of November as UN World Toilet Day. “I hope this declaration galvanises national and international action to reach the billions of people who still do not benefit from this basic human right,” the Special Rapporteur said.   Recalling current discussions on a future global development agenda, the rights expert also called on Governments to achieve universal access to sanitation in the post-2015 global development agenda by giving priority to the elimination of open defecation and committing to eliminate inequalities in access progressively.   “Toilets are the symbol of dignity for billions of people who still cannot enjoy them,” said Ms. de Albuquerque. “Let’s cherish them, let’s prioritize them…let’s celebrate them!”   http://www.ohchr.org/EN/Issues/WaterAndSanitation/SRWater/Pages/SRWaterIndex.aspx Visit the related web page
	Giant banks play Russian roulette with our future by Nick Fillmore Open Democracy Canada   Governments – particularly in the United States and the European Union – must start showing the intestinal fortitude to stand up against the banks.   Five years after the Great Recession of 2007-08 destroyed the lives of millions of people and cost trillions of dollars to the economy, many of the big banks that caused the collapse are still involved in highly risky and sometimes fraudulent activities that could crash the economy again. Fear is ever present among independent economists because the giant private banks – particularly US banks – bet trillions of dollars that are not properly secured and could cause havoc if defaulted on.   Efforts to bring the banks under control have had mixed success. Last December, after more than three years of wrangling with the big banks, US law makers approved the Volker rule. The intention was to lessen the possibility of another major crash, but critics say it will not make much of a difference. The billions of dollars US banks spent lobbying against the law paid off for them.   “A resurgence of right-wing economics, driven, as always, by ideology and special interests, once again threatens the global economy - or at least the economies of Europe and America,” said economist Joseph Stiglitz, a Nobel Prize winner.   Millions of ordinary citizens who have their savings and investments tied up in big banks are unaware of the extent of the risks. In southern Europe, millions of people have not recovered from the 2008 collapse.   Multi-national banks – which of course have huge legitimate activities – employ “the best and brightest” minds they can find, and pay them big bucks to work out illegal schemes and find loopholes in government legislation that will make them even more rich.   Here are a few examples of some well documented fraudulent activities of some big banks since the crash:   Bank of America: The Rolling Stone magazine exposed the “limitless criminal conspiracies” they’re involved in.   Deutsche bank: Among many things, the German bank is paying $550-million to resolve a tax shelter fraud investigation.   HSBC Bank: The bank paid a record $1.92-billion penalty in connection with a money-laundering scheme involving Iran and Mexican drug cartels.   JP Morgan Chase: The bank admitted to being involved in a number of criminal activities, including the fraudulent sale of unregistered securities.   Barclays Bank: They were hit with fines of $448-million for its “serious, widespread” role in trying to manipulate the price of crucial interest rates that affect the cost of borrowing for millions of customers around the world.   Credit Suisse: It was one of a dozen banks found guilty of fraudulently manipulating Libor interest rates to grab illegal profits.   Amazingly, despite all the criminality, not one executive of any giant international investment bank has gone to jail, or even been prosecuted.   The investment banks and traders use an array of dizzying financial instruments to make massive, often illegal profits. Included are derivatives, hedge funds, credit default swaps, reverse convertible bonds, and other exotic creations that promise either huge gains or disastrous losses.   Even before the big banks start their gambling, they have little room for any losses. As crazy as it may sound, some banks routinely have liabilities of perhaps 95 percent of its hard cash assets. This means that a medium size loss could put the bank in a near-bankrupt situation.   Even so, they are not afraid to gamble bigtime.   Derivatives, one of the main trading instruments, are a complex, extremely high risk transaction. As one example, two former JPMorgan Chase employees are facing criminal charges related to a derivatives trading scandal that cost the bank $6.2-billion. The bank ignored growing risks and hid losses from investors and federal regulators.   No one knows the exact value of derivatives that exist globally, but it’s at least an unimaginable $1,200-trillion, which is more than 20 times the size of the entire world economy. And the amount is still increasing.   “We can say this with virtual certainty,” wrote Steve Denning in Forbes magazine, “if we continue as now and ignore them [derivatives] again, the great white shark of a global financial meltdown will gobble up the meagre economic recovery and make 2008 look like a hiccup.”   The mega-banks, headed by unscrupulous executives and with the support of thousands of lobbyists and hundreds of high-paid lawyers, are now defying efforts by authorities to stop them from engaging in their risky and often illegal financial dealings.   In Europe, the bankers won a significant victory in January 2013 when officials backed down and agreed to broaden the definition of the assets the banks can use to back up their loans. The governments also agreed to delay the start of the regulations to 2019.   Giant banks must be brought under control   Governments – particularly in the United States and the European Union – must start showing the intestinal fortitude to stand up against the banks. The way things stand now, the banks irresponsible behaviour could lead to another even worse crash.   First, for now, governments must urgently step in and get control of dangerous gambling instruments, such as derivatives. Banks involved with derivatives should put up billions of dollars to protect against unforeseen losses.   Second, we must overcome the strong influence that banks have over governments and the general public. In southern Europe, banks have been so powerful that they have literally pushed aside the democratic process. Elected politicians have given way to appointed financial experts, and their interests are to ignore the social needs of the people while they make sure the banks get back all the money they had lent to governments.   Our world will not be safe until we start really controlling the power of the giant banks.   * Nick Fillmore is a Toronto-based journalist, who worked for more than 25 years with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, including heading CBC Radio’s Investigative Unit, and was the Canadian Editor of CBC''s National TV News. He is a founder of the Canadian Association of Journalists, and Canadian Journalists for Free Expression. Visit the related web page
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