Monthly Archive: April 2016

Blog

Obstacles to Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals

During “The way ahead: Successful frameworks and strategies for financing the Sustainable Development Goals and the paradigm shift towards low carbon societies” panel discussion on “Financing poverty eradication and sustainable development” at the President of the General Assembly’s High-Level Thematic Debate on Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals held at the UN in New York on Thursday, 21 April 2016, Barbara Adams from Global Policy Forum pointed out governments on one hand are signing the Paris Agreement and on the other hand signing certain bilateral trade treaties. See the video here.

Briefings

Options for strengthening global tax governance

The importance of international—or even better, global—cooperation on tax issues is becoming more and more evident in the light of tax evasion and avoidance scandals during the last few months and years. Countries in the global North and South were shown to offer preferential treatment to foreigners—from Panama to Luxemburg from the Cayman Islands to Hong Kong. Individuals as well as huge transnational corporations are using a fragmented and inconsistently regulated global system of trans-border taxation to evade and/or avoid taxes. The sums lost amount to hundreds of billions annually. Depending on the model of estimation, developing countries are losing more than one trillion US dollars per year in illicit financial flows, the majority of which can be attributed to the abuse of transfer pricing rules. A panel of the UN Economic Commission for Africa chaired by former South African president Thabo Mbeki estimates the losses of Africa alone at approximately 50 billion US dollars per year. The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) puts global revenue losses from Base Eros ion and Profit Shifting at an annual 100 to 240 billion US dollars. Read more…

Blog

Mind the Gap – from CSW to FfD

Less than one month ago the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) adopted its “ agreed conclusions” on “Women’s empowerment and the link to sustainable development.”

From 18-20 April, the Financing for Development Forum (FfD Forum) will provide an early test on the commitment and ability of Member States and the UN system to finance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and address structural obstacles to development. Read more…

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Accountability and transparency of multi-stakeholder partnerships at the UN

During the session on “accountability and transparency of multi-stakeholder partnerships” held in the framework of the Partnership Forum at the UN, Barbara Adams from Global Policy Forum and Social Watch said that partnerships are based in a win-win dynamic but there is a need to understand of what is “win-win”. See the video here.

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The United Nations and system organizations should engage with donors in a dialogue at the strategic level for the adoption of donor reporting templates and accommodating the common information needs, demands and requirements of donors and the regulatory frameworks and capacities of the organizations.

This is one of the main recommendations highlighted in a new report by the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU), an independent external oversight body of the United Nations system, reviewing donor reporting requirements across the UN system.

The JIU review focused on the United Nations system organizations that have the highest number of donor reports and on the 16 major donors to the United Nations system, including the European Commission. Read More.

In new report:  “United Nations System – Private Sector Partnerships Arrangements in the context of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development“, the Joint Inspection Unit (JIU) recommends the General Assembly consider a review of the “Guidelines on a Principle-based Approach to the Cooperation between the United Nations and the Business Sector”, with a view to reflecting the changes needed to bring about the increased contribution expected from the private sector based on S-G’s proposals in report A/72/684; and update the common interpretation of General Assembly resolution 92 (I), entitled “Official Seal and Emblem of the United Nations”, shared by the network of legal advisers from all United Nations organizations that are members of the United Nations System Chief Executives Board for Coordination.

“The Inspector believes that, in the light of the new approach for a revitalized partnership with the private sector requested in the 2030 Agenda, the Guidelines appear to offer more of a “defensive” line (safeguarding the integrity, impartiality and independence of the United Nations and managing risk) than a “proactive” operational line (facilitating the formulation and implementation of partnerships).”

 

The UN News website (https://news.un.org/en/) has been retooled to include the option to subscribe to news based on selected topics of interest. In addition, subscribers have the ability to sign-up to receive UN News in Kiswahili and Portuguese languages, as well as in six official UN languages (Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Russian and Spanish). Subscriptions by topic will also include direct links to the webcasts of events pertaining to each topic.

The UN News also updated their mobile phone application.

Ahora también en español:

Spotlight Enfoques sobre Desarrollo Sostenible 2017

En defensa del interés público

Privatización, partnerships, apropiación empresarial y su impacto sobre la sustentabilidad y la desigualdad: evaluaciones y alternativas. Informe del Grupo de Reflexión de la Sociedad Civil sobre la Agenda 2030 para el Desarrollo Sostenible.