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	The top 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets by UNDP, UNU Wider, Oxfam, agencies   Oct. 2024   The richest 1 percent have more wealth than the bottom 95 percent of the world’s population put together, new Oxfam analysis of UBS data reveals today ahead of the annual UN High-Level General Debate.   Billionaires are exerting new levels of control over economies, with a billionaire either running or the principal shareholder of more than a third of the world’s top 50 corporations. The combined market capitalization of these corporations is $13.3 trillion.   Oxfam’s briefing paper “Multilateralism in an Era of Global Oligarchy” warns that multilateral efforts to respond to critical global challenges, including the climate crisis and persistent poverty and inequality, are being undermined by the ultra-wealthy and mega-corporations fueling inequality within and between countries.   Despite being home to 79 percent of the world’s population, Global South countries own just 31 percent of global wealth.   “The shadow of global oligarchy hangs over this year’s UN General Assembly. The ultra-wealthy and the mega-corporations they control are shaping global rules to serve their interests at the expense of people everywhere. The iconic UN podium is increasingly feeling diminished in a world in which billionaires are calling the shots,” said Amitabh Behar, Oxfam International’s Executive Director.   The paper describes a “movement toward a global oligarchy,” where the ultra-rich, often through their increasingly monopolistic corporations, shape global political decision-making and rules to enrich themselves while thwarting vital global progress.   The top 1 percent own 43 percent of all global financial assets. Just two corporations control 40 percent of the global seed market. The “big three” US-based asset managers —BlackRock, State Street, and Vanguard— hold $20 trillion in assets, close to one-fifth of all investable assets in the world.   “While we often hear about great power rivalries undermining multilateralism —it is clear that extreme inequality is playing a massive role. In recent years the ultra-wealthy and powerful corporations have used their vast influence to undermine efforts to solve major global problems such as tackling tax dodging, making Covid-19 vaccines available to the world and canceling the albatross of sovereign debt,” said Behar.   Oxfam details three recent examples of extreme inequality eroding multilateral efforts —and where civil society and Global South leaders have offered inequality-busting solutions:   Powerful corporations undermining tax cooperation. The OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Sharing (BEPS) fell short of realizing its potential, with new rules for profit allocation that will deliver only tiny extra revenues for lower-income countries of as little as 0.026 percent of their GDP.   The exclusion of financial services from OECD rules is a carve-out attributed to lobbying from countries with large banking and financial sectors.   Global South countries, led by African countries, are instead advancing negotiations for a fairer tax convention at the UN that, along with Brazil’s leadership at the G20, offer a pathway for fairly taxing the super-rich and mega-corporations.   Big Pharma resisting efforts to break up their monopolies over Covid-19 vaccine technologies to unlock supply. Monopoly control over vaccine production was highly profitable during the pandemic. In 2021 alone, the seven largest manufacturers generated an estimated $50 billion in net profit from the sale of Covid-19 vaccines, resulting in huge payouts to rich shareholders and the emergence of new vaccine billionaires.   The CEO of Pfizer Albert Bourla described the call to share Covid-19 vaccine technologies as “dangerous nonsense.” The failure to equitably share vaccines contributed to as many as 1.3 million excess deaths worldwide. A new pandemic treaty with strong provisions to suspend patents and allow for easier transfers of technology offers promise.   Private creditors exacerbating the global debt crisis. Low-income countries spend nearly 40 percent of their annual budgets on debt service, over 60 percent more than they spend on education, health, and social protection combined.   Over half of low- and middle-income countries’ external debt is owed to private lenders like banks and hedge funds. Some of these creditors are “vulture funds,” which purchase distressed debt on the cheap and exploit legal mechanisms to be repaid in full, reaping outsized profits.   “Only a solidarity-based multilateralism can reverse the movement toward global oligarchy. Some world leaders are showing they recognize this and are stepping up to fight inequality —but we need many more to demonstrate this courage,” said Behar.   “Ultimately, a fairer world and international order —where corporations pay their fair share, global public health is prioritized, and where all countries can invest in their own people— benefits us all. This is not new, and it’s long what leaders especially from the Global South have called for.”   http://www.oxfam.org/en/research/multilaterialism-era-global-oligarchy http://www.oxfam.org/en/press-releases/worlds-top-1-own-more-wealth-95-humanity-shadow-global-oligarchy-hangs-over-un   Oct. 2024   1.1 billion people live in multidimensional poverty, nearly half a billion of these live in conflict settings, report United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative.   1.1 billion people live in acute poverty worldwide, with 40 percent living in countries experiencing war, fragility and/or low peacefulness according to at least one of the three widely used datasets of conflict settings.   Due to lack of data, the global MPI is measured over a ten-year period (2012-2023) to create a comparable index of global levels and trends. In this new report the poverty data per country were matched to the country’s conflict/fragility status at the time to generate new insights on the overlap between conflict and poverty.The challenges of gathering data in conflict-affected countries likely lead to an underestimation of multidimensional poverty in these countries, with available data still underscoring the catastrophic effect of conflict on poverty reduction.   “Conflicts have intensified and multiplied in recent years, reaching new highs in casualties, displacing record millions of people, and causing widespread disruption to lives and livelihoods,” said Achim Steiner, UNDP Administrator.   “Our new research shows that of the 1.1 billion people living in multidimensional poverty, almost half a billion live in countries exposed to violent conflict. We must accelerate action to support them. We need resources and access for specialized development and early recovery interventions to help break the cycle of poverty and crisis.”   Countries at war have higher deprivations across all ten indicators of multidimensional poverty, underscoring the devastating impact of conflict on the world’s most vulnerable populations.   For instance, in conflict-affected countries, over one in four poor people lacks access to electricity, compared to just over one in twenty in more stable regions.   Similar disparities are evident in areas such as child education (17.7 percent vs. 4.4 percent), nutrition (20.8 percent vs. 7.2 percent), and child mortality (8 percent vs. 1.1 percent).   The analysis finds that deprivations are markedly more severe in nutrition, access to electricity, and access to water and sanitation for the poor in conflict settings relative to the poor in more peaceful settings.   Poverty reduction tends to be the slowest in countries most affected by conflict – where poverty is often the highest.   The report includes an in-depth case study on Afghanistan, where 5.3 million more people fell into multidimensional poverty during the turbulent period 2015/16–2022/23. Data are available now to examine Afghanistan’s post-conflict situation and the results are alarming. In 2022/23, nearly two-thirds of Afghans were poor (64.9 percent).   Sabina Alkire, Director of the Oxford Poverty and Human Development Initiative, says, “This study provides the first measured global analysis at this scale examining how in conflict settings multidimensionally poor people are affected. And it is sobering. Using the global MPI we find that out of the 6.3 billion people living in 112 countries, 1.1 billion are poor. And 455 million poor people live in countries experiencing conflict, fragility and/or low peacefulness. So poverty is not their only struggle. Moreover, the level of poverty in conflict-affected areas is far higher.   In countries at war, over one in three people are poor (34.8 percent) whereas in non-conflict-affected countries it’s one in nine (10.9 percent) according to the Uppsala Conflict Data Program. And sadly, poverty reduction is slower in conflict settings – so the poor in conflict settings are being left behind. These numbers compel a response: we cannot end poverty without investing in peace.”   In addition to the analyses of poverty in conflict settings, the latest MPI report offers insights on the trends in poverty reduction around the world:   Over half of the 1.1 billion poor people are children under the age of 18 (584 million). Globally, 27.9 percent of children live in poverty, compared with 13.5 percent of adults.   Large proportions of the 1.1 billion poor people lack adequate sanitation (828 million), housing (886 million) or cooking fuel (998 million). Well over half of the 1.1 billion poor people live with a person who is undernourished in their household (637 million).   "Ending child poverty is a policy choice," said the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). "Countries that have made this choice have drastically reduced the number of children growing up in poverty."   Steiner emphasized that many countries in the Global South are being suffocated by debt repayments to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund, hindering efforts to reduce or eradicate poverty.   "Onerous debt burdens continue to impede progress on tackling poverty in many developing countries," said Steiner. "On average, low-income countries allocate more than twice as much funding to servicing net interest payments as they do to pay for health or education services."   Steiner said that on the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the U.N. is calling for the consideration of "a neglected dimension of poverty: the social and institutional maltreatment faced by people living in poverty augmented by conflict and lack of peace."   "Whether experienced through negative attitudes, stigma, discrimination, or through the structural violence embedded in institutions, it represents a denial of fundamental human rights," said Steiner.   "From unequal access to education, healthcare, social protection, jobs, or legal identity, prejudicial policies that exclude those living in poverty further perpetuate cycles of inequality and exclusion."   http://hdr.undp.org/content/2024-global-multidimensional-poverty-index-mpi#/indicies/MPI http://www.ipcinfo.org/ipc-country-analysis/en/ http://www.srpoverty.org/2024/10/17/statement-international-financial-system-not-fit-for-purpose-to-address-catastrophic-debt-crisis-un-poverty-expert/ http://taxjustice.net/press/countries-can-raise-2-trillion-by-copying-spains-wealth-tax-study-finds/ http://taxjustice.net/reports/taxing-extreme-wealth-what-countries-around-the-world-could-gain-from-progressive-wealth-taxes/ http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/wider-annual-lecture-brief-billionaire-tax-modest-proposal-21st-century http://www.wider.unu.edu/news/gabriel-zucman-presents-his-modest-proposal-taxing-worlds-billionaires-provocative-wider http://www.wider.unu.edu/publication/new-estimates-cost-ending-poverty Visit the related web page
	2024 Social Forum: Financing development for the advancement of Human Rights for all by UN Office for Human Rights (OHCHR)   Oct. 2024   As the world emerges from the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath and navigates ongoing crises, including the climate emergency, war and conflict, disruptions in energy and food prices, the ability of countries to cope with these crises has been uneven, with the poorest and most vulnerable populations usually bearing the brunt of the many interconnected challenges.   Developing countries often lack sufficient resources to address and redress these challenges and are constantly contending with major constraints in financial resources. These include low tax revenues, high levels of debt, increasing inflation and interest rates, unfavorable trade terms and conditions and limited access to investment opportunities. These factors collectively pose significant barriers to economic progress and sustained development.   They impede efforts to recover from the pandemic’s multidimensional impact and reverse progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were already lagging behind. Financing for Development has therefore taken centre stage in global discussions on the implementation and acceleration of the SDGs and climate action.   The widening finance gap between developed and developing countries threatens to perpetuate a sustainable development divide. Without adequate financial support and favorable economic conditions, poorer nations are caught in a cycle of debt and underdevelopment, hindering their ability to achieve long-term sustainable growth and improve the well-being of their populations.   Their fiscal space and capacities to invest in the protection and promotion of human rights, especially economic and social rights, become significantly limited. This uneven landscape underscores the urgent need for targeted support and transformative strategies to ensure just and equitable progress for all.   Against this backdrop, the 2024 Social Forum focus is on "The Contribution of Financing for Development to the Advancement of All Human Rights for All," recognizing the urgent need to address the financing challenges exacerbated by recent and evolving global crises.   Financing for Development (FfD) refers to the allocation and management of financial resources to support the comprehensive development of nations, with an imperative to ensure that all people, especially in developing countries, can actively participate in and benefit from development processes and outcomes.   This aligns with the principles of the right to development, as enshrined in the 1986 United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development, which recognizes that development is a comprehensive economic, social, cultural, and political process aimed at improving the well-being of all individuals and peoples through their free, active and meaningful participation in development and the fair distribution of its benefits.   The 2024 Human Rights Council Social Forum thus takes place at a pivotal moment. It provides an opportunity to build momentum towards revitalizing the Financing for Development Agenda, anchored in human rights, in lead up to the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, scheduled for July 2025 in Spain.   By fostering inclusive and forward-looking dialogue among a broad range of stakeholders —including governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and others—it aims to highlight the necessary redress in Financing for Development, including through restructuring and regulation, justice and equity, solidarity and cooperation, notably reform of the International Financial Architecture.   http://www.ohchr.org/en/stories/2024/11/financing-development-must-advance-all-human-rights-all http://www.ohchr.org/en/events/forums/2024/2024-social-forum http://www.ohchr.org/en/hrc-subsidiaries/social-forum http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k1y/k1y4ofx6ho http://webtv.un.org/en/asset/k14/k147qb2ruk Visit the related web page
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