Progress on the SDGs and human rights is in grave peril. Global progress in reducing poverty has been reversed for the first time in a generation. Seven hundred fifty million people do not have enough to eat, and 3.3 billion people live in countries where governments spend more on servicing their debts than fulfilling their rights. If we are to build a world that seeks to achieve human rights and equality, then a strengthened commitment is needed to dedicate the necessary resources to realize rights and dignity for all, going beyond existing pledges of cooperation and multilateralism to reform the global economic system that is depriving people of their rights and destroying our planet.
Assuming these commitments, and leveraging the opportunities raised by the Summit of the Future, these sessions will discuss the centrality of human rights to the tax reform process, the strategies needed to secure a rights-based economy and a sustainable future, and the potential of the Pact for the Future and other multilateral initiatives, such as Brazil’s proposal of a global standard for minimum taxation of the ultra-rich under the G20, or the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, to strengthen international tax cooperation and broaden the scope of topics that require cooperation to fight tax abuse.
Session 1: Global Tax Reforms in the Pact/SOTF: How a Rights-Based Economy Can Deliver a ustainable Future
Date: Saturday, 21 September, 9:45 – 11.00
Venue: 777 United Nations Plaza, New York, NY 10017, 11th Floor meeting space
Speakers:
* Rio Hada, Chief, Equality, Development and Rule of Law Section, OHCHR (Moderator)
* Frans van der Straaten, Deputy Head of Human Rights, Humanitarian and Sustainable Development Unit, Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (Opening remarks)
* Agnès Callamard, Secretary General, Amnesty International
* Maria Ron Balsera, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Social Rights
* Diana Chavez Varela, Chief of the UN, IFIs, and Civil Society Branch, ILO
* Representative of the Mission of Colombia (TBC)