Important step forward for UN Tax Convention negotiations/ Civil society inputs to FfD zero draft
#UNTaxConvention #CancelTheDebt #FfD4 #EurodadIC25
Top story
An important step forward for UN Tax Convention negotiations
Despite the withdrawal of the United States, the process to negotiate a new UN Convention on International Tax Cooperation took an important step forward this week. Member States agreed the focus of the second Protocol and agreed on important decision-making rules. The process now moves on to the next stage, negotiating the substance of the Convention and Protocols.
Tove Maria Ryding, Tax Coordinator at Eurodad, said: "We are happy that this issue [on decision-making processes] is now resolved, so that the process can move forward, and it is very important that the rules will not allow one single country to block process for everybody else."
Read our press release at the end of the negotiations
Read our reaction to the US withdrawal from the negotiations
Read the FfD Chronicle - a daily newsletter published by the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism
News
Inputs by Civil Society FfD Mechanism to the Zero Draft Outcome document of the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development
As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development approaches, the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism - of which Eurodad is part of - issued its reaction to the Zero Draft Outcome document.
Eurodad International Conference "2025: A once in a decade opportunity to achieve economic justice"
Last week, the 2025 Eurodad Conference brought together 200+ experts and activists working on economic justice in the lead-up to the fourth UN Financing for Development Conference (FfD4). The conference was co-organised with Debt Observatory in Globalization (ODG), Oxfam Intermón and Alianza por la Solidaridad-ActionAid Spain.
Watch the panels and some highlights
CSOs call on the European Commission to reject the merger of external financing instruments
As the European Commission is considering merging several existing instruments - those for humanitarian aid, development cooperation, and pre-accession assistance, a coalition of 48 CSOs is calling on President Von der Leyen to reject the proposal, which poses a significant threat to Official Development Assistance and humanitarian aid funding while also increasing the politicisation of aid.
Blog
What should have been said at OECD-hosted conference on private finance for development: We need a UN-led change of course
by Matthew Simonds (Eurodad) and Maria Jose Romero (Eurodad)
In this blog, Eurodad's Matthew Simonds and Maria Jose Romero assess the key takeaways from this week's OECD conference 'Mobilising private finance towards 2030 and beyond’.
Reports
Who owes who? External debts, climate debts and reparations in the Jubilee Year
by ActionAid
If we are to succeed in building the momentum to dramatically transform the international financial architecture, we need to consistently ask, who is benefiting from and upholding the present failing system, and ultimately, who owes who? ActionAid’s latest briefing lays out new data and analysis that can inspire collective action in 2025 by civil society movements and governments.
Jubilee 2025: The new global debt crisis and its solutions
by CAFOD, SCIAF, and Caritas
Today, 54 countries are in debt crisis, with devastating impacts on people’s lives and livelihoods. This paper identifies the structural causes of reoccurring debt crises and highlights their impacts on the world’s poorest communities. It outlines why, following the historic success of the Jubilee 2000 debt campaign, the world once again faces an acute global debt crisis. Finally, it charts a course for transformative change, recommending policies to advance a fair and functional debt system.
Read the report | Read a joint statement from UK organisations
The status of Ethiopia’s debt restructuring
by The Horn Economic and Social Policy Institute (HESPI), AFRODAD and Debt Justice UK
This report analyses the status of Ethiopia’s debt restructuring as it progresses through the G20 Common Framework for Debt Treatments. In particular, it looks at the proposal the Ethiopian government made to bondholders in October 2024, which was eventually rejected. This paper finds that if bondholders had accepted the proposed restructuring, they would still have made 30% more profit than if they had lent to the US government.
Understanding debt swaps
by LATINDADD
While debt swaps are often designed to address financial sustainability and growth simultaneously, they have primarily benefited international financial institutions and creditors to the detriment of the local population, who endure the consequences of the austerity measures often accompanying these restructurings. Furthermore, these swaps reinforce unequal power structures that perpetuate debtor countries’ economic dependence and financial vulnerability instead of providing them with a viable path towards development.
Just, feminist and sovereign transitions: rethinking climate finance in the global south
by LATINDADD
This report analyses current approaches to energy and climate transitions, exposing how models driven by the global north perpetuate colonial, extractivist and patriarchal dynamics that exacerbate historical inequalities. This document proposes an alternative approach: fair, feminist and sovereign transitions that prioritise life, social justice, inclusion and the protection of territories against extractivism.
Useful resources
Book: "Environmental lobbying at the United Nations: a guide to protecting our planet"
Available in pre-order, this book provides a step-by-step, insiders’ guide on how to lobby and engage successfully at the United Nations. It reveals how the UN, which plays such a key role on issues from climate change to pollution of our air, land and sea, really works.
Jobs
Senior policy and advocacy officer - climate justice | Eurodad | Deadline: 16 February 2025
Events
12 February | Online | Launch of 2024 Critical Trends Report
The 2024 edition of WEDO’s Critical Trends Report, “Towards economic and climate justice: a feminist analysis of critical trends,” examines the progress and challenges in realising this vision. It highlights key developments and releases of data between late 2023 and October 2024, as an offering to the collective feminist movement to strengthen our advocacy at the nexus of economic, gender and climate justice. In this launch webinar, lead author of the report Arimbi Wahono (Shared Planet) will present highlights from the report and we will hear from three feminist respondents, from MENAFem, Fundación Ambiente y Recursos Naturales (FARN) and the Malala Fund.
Interpretation will be available in Arabic, French, Spanish and English.
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This newsletter has been produced with co-funding from the European Union, Bread for the World and Norad. The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of Eurodad and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the funders. |
