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First and Second Substantive negotiating sessions of the United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation
The proposed United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation's first and second substantive negotiating sessions were held at UN Headquarters in New York from 4 to 15 August 2025. These were the first meetings of a two-year process ending in 2027.
A significant milestone in this process was the 2024 adoption of the Terms of Reference, when States agreed to include ‘alignment with international human rights law’ as a guiding principle for international tax cooperation. This commitment underscores the potential of the treaty to reframe the fight against illicit financial flows, tax evasion and avoidance, and the persistent under-taxation of high-net-worth individuals. It sets the process on a trajectory that could expand States’ fiscal space and strengthen their capacity to realise economic, social, and cultural rights.
Championed from the outset by the African Union, the Convention represents a rare opportunity to advance a more democratic and egalitarian framework for global tax cooperation: one that includes the perspectives of Global South countries, historically sidelined in developed-country-dominated forums such as the OECD.
In preparation for the August sessions, the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC) issued technical notes on the three core issues under discussion:
- The Framework Convention itself (Workstream I)
- Additional Protocol N°1 on the ‘taxation of income derived from the provision of cross-border services in an increasingly digitalised and globalised economy’ (Workstream II)
- Additional Protocol N°2 on ‘prevention and resolution of tax disputes’ (Workstream III)
Bringing Human Rights to the Negotiation Floor
As part of the civil society delegation, our Programme Officer on Economic Justice, Michelle Cañas, delivered a statement onsite at the UN negotiations with regards to Additional Protocol 2 (currently discussed under Workstream III), emphasising the need for a fair, transparent, and inclusive approach to resolving cross-border tax disputes. The Framework Convention must include firm commitments from the outset; otherwise, its implementation risks being undermined by unequal rules and practices. Michelle pointed to cross-border services as an example of how complex rules can fuel disputes, noting that moving towards simpler approaches such as unitary taxation would reduce litigation and help avoid conflicts in the first place. On dispute prevention and resolution, she emphasised that the new protocol should not replicate the shortcomings of current mechanisms, which are costly, opaque, and inaccessible to many developing countries, but instead establish transparent and inclusive processes under the COP, supported by adequate resources. Dispute resolution is essential to the legitimacy of the entire Convention and its ability to strengthen states’ fiscal capacity for human rights and sustainable development.
You can watch Michelle’s entire intervention here, and read our publication analysing dispute settlement mechanisms in the context of the UN Tax Convention here.
Our Event:
Who was in the room?
On 4 August 2025, immediately after the opening of negotiations at UN Headquarters, GI-ESCR convened a strategic Global South briefing at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung’s New York office. State representatives from Brazil, Côte d’Ivoire, Chile, Spain, and Colombia, alongside civil society and academic experts, attended.
The panel featured:
- Ezequiel Steuermann, Programme Officer on Economic Justice and Climate Finance, GI-ESCR
- Tove Maria Ryding, Policy and Advocacy Manager on Tax Justice, EURODAD
- Sergio Chaparro Hernández, International Policy and Advocacy Lead, Tax Justice Network
- Everlyn Muendo, Policy Officer on Tax & International Financial Architecture, TJN Africa
- María Emilia Mamberti, Coordinator, Initiative for Human Rights in Fiscal Policy
The event opened with remarks by David Williams, Director of the International Climate Justice Programme at Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung’s New York Office. It was moderated by Rio Hada, Chief of the Equality, Development and Rule of Law Section at OHCHR New York.
What was at stake?
Discussions underscored that the Convention is more than a technical exercise: it represents a transformative instrument for realising economic, social, and cultural rights, especially in a global environment where trust in institutions is declining, socio-economic pressures are rising, and multilateral frameworks face growing challenges.
Participants highlighted the urgency of advancing ambitious fiscal reforms to expand Global South fiscal space, reinforcing the importance of inclusive, accountable governance that can deliver concrete, shared results. In a context of widespread frustration with ineffective socio-economic governance, a robust, rights-based tax cooperation framework can demonstrate that multilateral solutions bring tangible improvements to people’s lives, strengthen institutional resilience, and preserve the integrity of democratic and participatory systems.
What happened?
The briefing created a space for diverse actors to exchange perspectives, build consensus, and coordinate approaches ahead of negotiations. Discussions drew on GI-ESCR’s technical expertise, particularly insights from its recent publication series International Law at the UN Tax Convention. Building on prior exchanges hosted by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), participants examined how the Convention could function to secure human rights.
A central focus was the link between States’ extraterritorial human rights obligations and ambitious fiscal reforms. Proposals discussed included global beneficial ownership registries, tackling tax evasion and avoidance, and advancing fairer taxation frameworks, particularly targeting high-net-worth individuals. The conversation reinforced cross-regional collaboration on shaping a fair and ambitious global tax system and stressed the need for collective approaches to shared challenges.
3 Key Takeaways
- The Governance Architecture Battle
The most consequential divide emerging from these sessions wasn't tax rates or thresholds but power structures. While Global North States consistently pushed for alignment with existing frameworks and non-duplication with OECD mechanisms, Global South countries issued increasingly pointed warnings about preserving the status quo. Kenya's stark assertion that ‘complementarity’ calls effectively mean maintaining current inequalities revealed a fundamental tension: whether the Convention will genuinely redistribute fiscal authority or merely create a decorative UN space over existing asymmetries. The African Union and CARICOM's emphasis on governance elements, which includes a Conference of the Parties, permanent Secretariat and inclusive decision-making structures, represents a strategic attempt to institutionalise Global South influence. The repeated calls to retain governance provisions in the Framework Convention, rather than relegating them to optional protocols, signal awareness that procedural power determines substantive outcomes.
- The ‘Optionality’ of Protocols and Provisions, and the Fragmentation Trap
A concerning pattern emerged across all workstreams: the systematic weaponisation of flexibility. The proposal to make key protocols optional, which appeared throughout Global North interventions, seemed reasonable at first glance. Still, its cumulative effect threatens the Convention’s transformative potential. Combined with resistance to binding commitments and emphasis on high-level, non-self-executing language, this strategy is especially harmful because it uses genuine concerns about State sovereignty to justify actions that ultimately maintain existing inequalities. Multiple delegations warned that excessive optionality could weaken the new rules and lead to system fragmentation, but this is an understatement: excessive flexibility means, in practice, that the new regulations will only be applied where they're politically palatable, that is, they will not be applied in the Global North, which eliminates the possibility of a relevant redistribution of taxing rights to the South.
- A Critical Juncture: Civil Society Participation in the Intersessional Meetings
With workstream leads now tasked with drafting concrete text ahead of Nairobi, the process enters a crucial and potentially opaque phase. Civil society's concerns about exclusion from online intersessionals highlight that a procedural battle is expected to occur, particularly given explicit commitments to inclusive participation in the Terms of Reference. This can determine substantive outcomes. These intersessional consultations, where draft language gets refined and political compromises are tested, have historically been where ambitious multilateral frameworks either gain momentum or lose their transformative edge. The relevance of the procedural conversations held in New York, both regarding the governance structure and on the mandatory or optional character of the Optional Protocols, suggests that what happens between now and November may be determinant to the future of this process. For organisations with technical expertise in human rights and fiscal policy, meaningful participation in these intersessionals is essential to uphold transparency and to prevent the gradual erosion of rights-based commitments through incremental technical adjustments that often escape broader political scrutiny.
Next Steps
As negotiations continue toward the expected 2027 outcome, we will maintain an active presence in the process, including the upcoming third session in November in Nairobi, Kenya. We will continue to identify key points of contention where rigorous legal expertise and a human rights-based approach can provide added value to the debates.
Our ‘International Law at the UN Tax Convention’ publication series will also be expanded, delivering robust analysis designed to support State negotiators and other stakeholders in understanding what a genuine alignment between international tax cooperation and human rights law entails.
Building on the promising exchanges in New York, we will continue leveraging our cross-regional and interdisciplinary convening power, facilitating strategic discussions during and between negotiation sessions. Our goal remains to bridge geographic and sectoral silos, foster collaboration and advance an ambitious, Global South-oriented framework for tax cooperation; one that is equipped to address the pressing challenges faced by tax administrations and government officials, such as gaps in transparency, access to information, effective mechanisms to prevent evasion and avoidance and limited fiscal space, while upholding the principles of fairness, equity and human rights to the benefit of global majorities.
