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	Maastricht Principles on the Human Rights of Future Generations by Legal and human rights experts   The world is grappling with an array of intersecting crises that pose threats to human lives, livelihoods, and rights — not only of those currently living but of generations yet to come.   Courts, human rights bodies, international institutions, and governments around the world are increasingly confronting the question: What are our responsibilities to future generations?   When legal institutions grapple with new questions, the greatest source of guidance comes from the existing body of law; but often, it is challenging to crystallize existing law into new practice.   In 2017, a group of legal and human rights experts from around the world undertook a six-year process to examine the landscape of human rights law as it applies to the human rights of future generations. They drew from more than a century of legal research, international treaties, national constitutions and legislation, the knowledge of Indigenous Peoples from every continent, doctrines from major faith traditions representing the majority of the world’s people, and consultations with members of key social movements and more than 200 experts spanning a wide array of legal and philosophical disciplines.   The result is the Maastricht Principles on the Human Rights of Future Generations, adopted in early 2023 and endorsed by nearly sixty leading legal and human rights experts from around the world.   What is the purpose of the Maastricht Principles?   The Maastricht Principles are intended to clarify the state of international human rights law as it applies to future generations. They should guide the world’s approach to respecting, protecting, and promoting the rights of future generations based on the legal architecture that has been evolving over the last seventy years.   The Principles clearly demonstrate that there is already a robust body of law and precedent to draw on in respecting, protecting, and fulfilling the rights of future generations.   The Principles will help decision-makers answer fundamental questions about how to effectively incorporate the human rights of future generations into concrete laws, charters, and declarations.   The Principles will serve as a critical resource for judges, human rights bodies, decision-makers at all levels of government, and corporate actors who must align their business practices with the urgent realities posed by unlimited human activity in a fundamentally limited world.   What do the Principles say?   The Principles begin with the fundamental recognition that there is no temporal limitation to human rights in any of the foundational instruments in which they are recognized (such as the United Nations Charter or the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).   This means that the global body of human rights norms already recognizes the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, regardless of when they are born, including both present and future generations.   As States grapple with how to protect future generations, the Principles state that we must first recognize that future generations are inherently covered by the existing body of human rights law.   Therefore, respecting, protecting, and upholding the rights of future generations is simply a matter of upholding the most fundamental concept in human rights law: equality and non-discrimination.   In specific contexts, the Principles shed light on how profound and irreversible harm can discriminate against future generations. Destroying agricultural topsoils that take millennia to rebuild, polluting groundwaters that take many thousands of years to recharge, or rendering the very climate hostile to human life are all examples of irreparable discrimination. This illustrates that protecting rights demands a strong emphasis on precaution.   The full set of Principles provides detailed guidance and examples of how legal regimes must protect the full array of human rights for future generations in various contexts.   David Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights and the environment, said: “The robust Maastricht Principles provide humanity with a compass to guide us out of the current global environmental crisis. Governments, businesses, and courts must adopt and apply these Principles so that we all learn to be good ancestors.”   Sebastien Duyck, senior attorney, human rights and climate campaign manager, CIEL, said: “The Maastricht Principles provide an extremely timely clarification of the existing legal obligations of States in relation to the protection of the human rights of future generations. In the context of ongoing political and judicial proceedings, we expect their impact to be far-reaching. They will provide a roadmap informing key upcoming UN summits and decisions by international courts and tribunals.”   Edith Brown Weiss, university professor emerita, Georgetown University, said: “We urgently need to consider future generations in our decisions today. The Maastricht Principles are a pioneering effort to implement human rights law for future generations.”   Vishal Prasad, campaign director, Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, said: “The Maastricht Principles could not have come at a better time when the world has asked for precise clarification from the International Court of Justice on this theme. The Principles will undoubtedly and significantly add value to the current proceedings and will be instrumental in solidifying the status of intergenerational equity under international law.”   Daniel Magraw, senior fellow, Foreign Policy Institute of the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, said: “There is remarkable overlap between what should be done to protect humans and nature now and what should be done to protect them in the future. The Maastricht Principles are complemented by the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment and are destined to be highly influential.”   Miloon Kothari, independent expert on human rights and social policy, said: “At a time of multiple crises facing the earth and humankind and questions about the very survival of the generations to come, the Maastricht Principles offer hope for future generations, through powerful provisions for sustaining land, livelihood, and life based on Indigenous knowledge and human rights principles. Compliance with these Principles carries with it great promise for the survival of future generations and for empowering human rights and thriving ecosystems.”   Ana María Suarez Franco, permanent representative in Geneva, FIAN, said: "The Maastricht Principles serve as an indispensable guide to ensure that discussions on solidarity with future generations at the 2024 Summit of the Future are firmly rooted in existing human rights law, thereby providing consistency in the work of the United Nations. These Principles are grounded in established international law, encompassing the jurisprudence of diverse courts worldwide. They also draw inspiration from diverse faith traditions and cosmologies, which emphasize the consideration of future generations when making decisions. They provide an optimal foundation for shaping policy and regulatory processes at national, regional, and international levels within the framework of intra- and intergenerational justice."   Vanessa Nakate, Ugandan climate justice activist, said: “We have the responsibility to ensure that the coming generations can have a better planet, a healthier planet. They have the right to the basic necessities of life: to clean air, to clean food, to clean water. They have the right to thrive on a beautiful planet. There is no planet B; that is why we have to ensure that we leave a better planet for the coming generations.”   http://www.rightsoffuturegenerations.org/the-principles http://www.savethechildren.net/news/pacific-youth-hope-historic-hearing-hague-delivers-climate-justice-where-cop-did-not http://www.ciel.org/news/historic-climate-justice-hearings-icj/   Aug. 2024   Almost half a billion children live in areas experiencing at least twice as many extremely hot days as their grandparents - UNICEF   One in 5 children – or 466 million – live in areas that experience at least double the number of extremely hot days every year compared to just six decades ago, according to a new UNICEF analysis.   Using a comparison between a 1960s and a 2020-2024 average, the analysis issues a stark warning about the speed and scale at which extremely hot days – measured as more than 35 degrees Celsius / 95 degrees Fahrenheit – are increasing for almost half a billion children worldwide, many without the infrastructure or services to endure it.   “The hottest summer days now seem normal,” said UNICEF Executive Director Catherine Russell. “Extreme heat is increasing, disrupting children’s health, well-being and daily routines.”   The analysis also examines country-level data and finds that in 16 countries, children now experience more than a month of additional extremely hot days compared to six decades ago. In South Sudan, for example, children are living through a yearly average of 165 extremely hot days this decade compared to 110 days in the 1960s, while in Paraguay it has jumped to 71 days from 36.   Globally, children in West and Central Africa face the highest exposure to extremely hot days and the most significant increases over time, according to the analysis. 123 million children – or 39 per cent of children in the region – now experience an average of more than one third of the year – or at least 95 days – in temperatures above 35 degrees Celsius, reaching as many as 212 days in Mali, 202 days in Niger, 198 days in Senegal, and 195 days in Sudan. In Latin America and the Caribbean, almost 48 million children live in areas that are experiencing twice the number of extremely hot days.   Heat stress within the body, caused by exposure to extreme heat, poses unique threats to the health and well-being of children and pregnant women, particularly if cooling interventions are not available. It has been linked to pregnancy complications such as gestational chronic diseases and adverse birth outcomes including stillbirth, low birth weight, and preterm birth. Excess levels of heat stress also contribute to child malnutrition, non-communicable diseases such as heat-related illnesses, and leave children more vulnerable to infectious diseases that spread in high temperatures such as malaria and dengue. Evidence shows that it also impacts neurodevelopment, mental health, and well-being.   Extreme heat also has more concerning effects when experienced in longer periods of time. While extreme heat is increasing in every country worldwide, the analysis shows that children are also exposed to more severe, longer, and frequent heatwaves. Across 100 countries, more than half of children are experiencing twice as many heatwaves today as 60 years ago.   In the United States, for example, 36 million children are exposed to double the number of heatwaves compared to 60 years ago, and 5.7 million are exposed to three times as many.   The impact of climate-related hazards on child health is multiplied by how climate-related hazards affect food and water security and contamination, damage infrastructure, disrupt services for children, including education, and drive displacement.   In addition, the severity of these impacts is determined by underlying vulnerabilities and inequities children face based on their socioeconomic status, gender, location, existing health status and country context.   In the coming months, all Member State Parties to the Paris Agreement must submit new national climate plans – Nationally Defined Contributions (NDC 3.0). These plans will set the course of climate action for a decade. They are a timebound opportunity to set out concrete plans to realise the goals of the Paris agreement.   UNICEF is calling on leaders, governments and the private sector to seize this opportunity to deliver urgent and bold climate action which upholds the right of every child to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.   http://www.unicef.org/press-releases/almost-half-billion-children-live-areas-experiencing-least-twice-many-extremely-hot http://www.unicef.org/blog/urgent-need-child-centred-loss-and-damage-fund http://www.unicef.org/innocenti/reports/loss-and-damage-finance-children http://www.endchildhoodpoverty.org/publications-feed/climatechange http://www.ucl.ac.uk/news/2024/oct/health-threats-climate-change-reach-record-breaking-levels http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(24)01822-1/ http://climate.copernicus.eu/new-record-daily-global-average-temperature-reached-july-2024 http://www.socialprotectionfloorscoalition.org/2024/05/policy-brief-social-protection-for-climate-justice-why-and-how/ Visit the related web page
	How enablers facilitate illicit financial flows by Transparency International, agencies   Dec. 2023   How enablers facilitate illicit financial flows - Evidence from Africa   Professionals such as lawyers, accountants and corporate service providers have played a critical role in cross-border corruption schemes implicating African officials.   How do you quietly shuffle millions of dollars among 400 shell companies spread across 41 countries? With the help of an army of enablers.   That’s exactly what the daughter of former Angolan president, Isabel dos Santos allegedly did. In 2020, the Luanda Leaks investigations revealed how dos Santos’s network of offshore companies may have allowed her to take advantage of powerful connections, misappropriate state funds and siphon hundreds of millions of dollars abroad.   Earlier this year, Portuguese authorities searched the offices of consulting firms previously employed by dos Santos for documents that could help their Angolan counterparts with the ongoing corruption probe.   Cross-border flows of dirty money would not be possible if corrupt officials and criminals were unable to enlist the services of enablers operating all around the world. And while financial institutions such as banks have been in the spotlight for facilitating corruption and money laundering on a large scale, professionals working in the non-financial sector – like accountants, consultants, real estate agents, lawyers and corporate service providers – have often escaped both public and regulatory scrutiny.   Isabel dos Santos’s case is just one of dozens that has informed Transparency International’s new report, Loophole Masters: How Enablers Facilitate Illicit Financial Flows from Africa. It is the first such study on the non-financial enablers used by political elites to hide, launder and invest their ill-gotten gains outside the African continent.   To better understand the role of such enablers in facilitating illicit financial flows out of Africa, we collected publicly available evidence from 78 cases, originating from 33 countries. These are cases which implicate politically exposed persons from across the continent in siphoning off proceeds of corruption abroad or parking their wealth offshore.   They came from a variety of sources, including court cases resulting in convictions for corruption, indictments for ongoing cases, as well as media investigations based on leaks of financial data.   By analysing the data on enablers and mapping the relationships between the jurisdictions where they were registered, where their clients were based and where they were providing their services, we have observed some concerning patterns.   Gatekeepers or professional enablers?   The 87 non-financial enablers captured in our research appear in our database because they feature in suspected or confirmed cases of corruption and hiding of offshore wealth. In some cases, enablers were likely aware that they were facilitating corruption or money laundering, making them professional enablers. Other cases point to possible negligence or undue risks taken by the enablers. Additionally, some may have duly acted as gatekeepers by following the rules they were subjected to at the time of providing the services.   Because of the types of services they offer, they are highly likely to have facilitated corruption and the hiding of offshore wealth. We refer to them as “enablers”, capturing all of those whose services are prone to abuse and who have a role to play in stopping the flows of dirty money.   A menu of services to aid cross-border corruption   Funnelling dirty money offshore typically involves layers of concealment and complex transactions. We found a range of services in our case studies that helped politically exposed, high-risk persons navigate these murky pathways.   In the cases analysed, we identified 87 professionals, including accountants and audit firms (4), business consultancies (3), law firms or individual lawyers (42), notaries (4), real estate agencies (7), tax advisory businesses (1), and trust and corporate service providers, or TCSPs (26).   While the services offered by these professionals were diverse, many of them were involved in the creation or administration of companies and trusts. This is likely due to two key reasons: the known role of shell companies in corruption cases, which require this type of service to be provided; and the fact that many cases in our database originate from leaks of data held by corporate service providers, such as the Pandora Papers, which offer exactly this type of service.   The analysis also shows that certain services may be provided by different types of enablers, and two main groups stood out. The first group, made up of lawyers and TCSPs, offer a wide variety of services. This could be because lawyers and TCSPs are versatile and offer many services that could be useful to laundering corrupt money. The other group of enablers specialise in distinct types of services, such as notaries and real estate agents, who mainly stick to real estate purchases.   Services by type of enabler   Whether knowingly or unknowingly, enablers are providing a wide range of services that are needed by the corrupt to maintain a cloak of anonymity, conceal the illicit origin of funds and circumvent regulations. As they have access to crucial information, enablers are well-positioned to detect suspicious cases early on and report them to authorities. When this doesn’t happen – through not being obliged to or simply failing to do so – the impacts are highly detrimental to society and the global financial system.   In many countries where these professionals are based, they are not required to ask questions about the individuals owning the company, nor to report suspicious transactions to authorities. In some countries, certain professionals have these obligations, while others providing exactly the same services do not.   The ultimate long-distance relationship   While politically exposed people in our database did also rely on domestic professional enablers, many of the crucial services required to siphon their funds out of the continent were outsourced abroad – making it undeniable that foreign enablers play an important role in illicit financial flows from Africa.   This is problematic because it may make the due diligence process a lot more difficult. It may also reduce the chances of suspicious activities being flagged in the country where the client is based.   We found that secrecy jurisdictions were the most important hubs for enablers providing services to clients in Africa. Four of the top five jurisdictions where enablers were based – the British Virgin Islands (BVI), Switzerland, the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and the United States – also feature among the top secrecy jurisdictions in the Tax Justice Network’s 2022 Financial Secrecy Index.   Overall, the enablers captured in the dataset were registered or incorporated in 30 different jurisdictions.   Clients’ and enablers’ jurisdictions   In the BVI, Cyprus, Mauritius, Panama, Seychelles, Singapore, Switzerland and the UAE, most enablers provided services related to the creation and management of legal entities and arrangements. These jurisdictions have one thing in common: At the time when the services were provided, they all allowed for the establishment of anonymous companies. None required the real owners of legal entities to be identified and recorded with a government authority.   Jurisdictions of enablers’ registration   Our analysis reveals the true global nature of illicit financial flows, with foreign enablers often providing services from third jurisdictions – rather than where they are registered and regulated. This means that clients were in one jurisdiction, the enabler in another one and the services being sold from yet another.   Lawyers and TCSPs frequently provided their services (44 and 54 per cent, respectively) outside of where they were registered. This likely reflects the diversity of services they provide, as well as a focus on providing offshore corporate services.   Enablers registered in financial hubs such as Switzerland, the UK and the UAE, in particular, were focal points from which services were provided abroad. The BVI emerged as the main jurisdiction where enablers from abroad were providing their services, largely to create legal entities on behalf of their clients.   All told, we found that enablers sold their services in third countries in 46 per cent of instances they engaged with a client. This raises questions about who has the mandate to regulate and supervise these activities, and about the visibility relevant authorities have on the whole population of enablers that may be providing a service within their country. It also raises questions about the types of checks conducted when enablers sub-contract local agents to act as intermediaries in a specific country.   Time to eliminate loopholes   African nations, both independently and collectively, have made commitments to combat illicit financial flows and recover stolen assets. They should undoubtedly intensify efforts to fulfil these pledges. However, because of the cross-border nature of illicit financial flows, it is essential to close loopholes in the frameworks of countries that act as transit or destination points for funds leaving the continent.   While the sample of cases we analysed is not representative of the wider phenomenon of illicit financial flows from Africa, the outcomes of this study align with prior research on the crucial features of corruption and associated money laundering: foreign enablers and opaque corporate structures.   Our findings underscore the need to subject professionals providing these high-risk services to anti-money laundering obligations. Lawyers, accountants, corporate service providers and other professionals who are engaged in activities that could be abused by corrupt individuals and money launderers are in a privileged position to detect suspicious behaviour. They should be required to do so.   Globally, governments need to supervise and inspect these professionals more effectively. Those found to be complicit should be investigated and prosecuted. In particular, governments of countries offering offshore services should increase regulatory and supervisory efforts of enablers.   When it comes to corporate secrecy, governments that have not yet done so must set up centralised registers to record and track companies’ beneficial owners – that is, those who really own and control companies. It’s also crucial that they provide the public with adequate access to information on companies’ beneficial owners.   At a minimum, all those who have a role in preventing, detecting and following up on cases of possible financial crime – including authorities, civil society, media and enablers themselves – should have such access to the data.   Simultaneously, the international community needs to increase pressure on financial centres to adequately implement beneficial ownership transparency reforms. They should encourage countries that have chosen against making beneficial ownership registers widely accessible to ensure that at the very least foreign competent authorities are able to directly consult them. The upcoming conference of signatories to the UN Convention against Corruption is a crucial and immediate opportunity to do so.   For too long, non-financial enablers have flown under the radar. It’s time to put them under the microscope and close the loopholes that they exploit to aid the corrupt.   http://www.transparency.org/en/news/how-enablers-facilitate-illicit-financial-flows-from-africa http://www.transparency.org/en/press/cpi2023-corruption-perceptions-index-weakening-justice-systems-leave-corruption-unchecked http://www.transparency.org/en/blog/2024-big-year-for-democracy-dont-let-political-corruption-ruin-it http://worldjusticeproject.org/news/universal-declaration-human-rights-backtracks http://www.icij.org/inside-icij/2024/04/how-investment-firms-shield-the-ultra-wealthy-from-the-irs/ http://www.icij.org/investigations/pandora-papers/investigators-worldwide-continue-to-open-pandoras-box-to-pursue-criminals-identified-in-pandora-papers-two-years-after-icijs-landmark-investigation http://www.icij.org/investigations http://taxjustice.net/2024/03/26/the-secrecy-enablers-strike-back-weaponising-privacy-against-transparency/ http://taxjustice.net/press/un-agrees-plan-for-wealth-tax-law-blueprint/ Visit the related web page
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