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Explore our work with partners, globally and locally, to tackle social and economic injustice using a human rights lens.

Regional CSO Workshop and the 12th Pan African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation

Regional CSO Workshop and the 12th Pan African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation

On 24 and 25 June 2024, our Programme Officer – Africa, Aya Douabou, participated in a CSO workshop co-organised by Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA) and Observatoire Tunisien de l'Economie (OTE) entitled "The Role of African Countries in Defining Global Tax Rules."

Over 50 participants from 5 African regions attended the workshop, which unpacked critical issues about reforming the international tax architecture.

Participants were grouped per region (West and Central Africa, North Africa, East and Southern Africa) for consultations and regional advocacy action plans on the UN Tax Convention to be developed. Each group will follow up on their outlined activities to continue mobilising around the UN Tax Convention at the regional level. 

To conclude the workshop, we drafted a document to capture our shared views, aspirations, and commitments to a UN Tax Convention that upholds human rights and economic, social, environmental, and climate justice, among other things. 

From 26 to 28 June 2024, we also participated in the Pan African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows: "Africa's Tax Agenda in Combatting Illicit Financial Flows: From Words to Action," an event co-organised by the African Union Commission, the African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), the Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), the African Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI), the African Organisation of English-speaking Supreme Audit Institutions (AFROSAI-E), and the African Organisation of Public Accounts Committees (AFROPAC).  

Over 250 diverse participants, including high-level senior officials in key government ministries and departments such as supreme audit institutions, central banks, financial intelligence units, tax administrations, ministries of finance, mining, and commerce; parliamentarians, anti-corruption agencies, from key public finance management agencies from different countries, international organisations, civil society organisations, revenue authorities, affiliated regional and sub-regional organisations (AfDB, RECs, UNECA, UNCTAD, Afreximbank, BADEA, ATI, NEPAD, AU-ABC, PAP, UNDP, UN-OSAA) parliamentarians, and cooperating partners, attended the conference.

The objectives of the conference were to:

a) Take stock of the best practices and relevant continental-wide initiatives undertaken by institutions and partners in response to the African Union Heads of State and Government decisions and commitments to curb IFFs, meeting the financing gap for Africa's development as envisioned under Agenda 2063 and the HLP report findings and recommendations in combating IFFs in Africa;

b) Discuss the effectiveness of different measures implemented in response to the findings of critical African reports on combating illicit financial flows (IFFs).

c) Retrospect on the contributions of the African Union and stakeholders, including the Africa Tax Administration Forum, Tax Justice Network Africa, and others, in addressing IFFs at different levels.

d) Facilitate and engage multi-stakeholder partnerships to ensure meaningful inclusivity and broad-based support. 

Several enlightening panel discussions relevant to GI-ESCR's programmatic priorities were held, among which:  

  • Tax, IFFs, and the Global Financial Architecture

This panel highlighted the need for more efforts at the national, regional, and international levels to mobilise African countries to advance common reform positions that will protect Africa's tax bases and contribute to curbing illicit financial flows, in particular through the UN Tax Convention process. 

  • Understanding the linkages between Illicit Financial Flows and Debt in Africa

Statistics show that at least half of African countries are distressed or at high risk of debt distress. This panel delved into these alarming statistics and the complex interplay between illicit financial practices and burgeoning debt burdens across the continent. From exploring how IFFs exacerbate debt vulnerabilities to discussing strategies for enhanced transparency and accountability, this session offered invaluable insights for policymakers, scholars, and practitioners seeking to address the root causes of Africa's debt challenges. 

  • Taxation for Gender Equality and the Implications of Illicit Financial Flows

This session delved into the transformative power of taxation in addressing gender inequality across Africa. Its aim was to unearth innovative strategies that harness taxation as a catalyst for advancing gender equity and fostering economic empowerment throughout the continent. It thoroughly analysed the distinct impacts of taxation on both men and women, delving into policy interventions that have the potential to enhance women's access to vital resources and opportunities. 

On the last day of the conference, several side sessions were held to address more critical issues linked to IFFs, complementing the proceedings of the first two days.  

We moderated a side session entitled "Combatting Illicit Financial Flows to Transform Education Financing in Africa: Africa's Tax Agenda for the African Union Year of Education." This session built on the findings and recommendations of ActionAid's report Transforming Education Financing in Africa: A Strategic Agenda for the African Union Year of Education that GI-ESCR contributed to and endorsed. The panelists were: 

  • El Hadj Moussa Sarr, TaxEd Alliance Coordinator, ActionAid Senegal, shared his reflections on the challenges and opportunities in Senegal regarding addressing IFFs and raising domestic revenue to invest adequately in education. 
  • Ucizi Ngulube, TaxEd Alliance Coordinator, ActionAid Zambia, highlighted the challenges and opportunities in Zambia regarding addressing IFFs and boosting domestic revenue to invest sufficiently in education. 
  • Everlyn Muendo, Policy Lead for Tax and International Financial Architecture at Tax Justice Network Africa, underscored the importance of the UN Tax Convention for the adequate and sustainable financing of public services, including education, and how we can support Africa's efforts in the negotiations at the UN level. 

This event was an opportunity to remind us that education is a human right and that States are primarily responsible for delivering and financing public education under international human rights law. It also stressed the need for African States to develop progressive fiscal policies by shifting the tax burden from vulnerable groups to super-rich companies and individuals responsible for tax avoidance. This will foster the increase of the tax-to-GDP ratio necessary to finance public education sustainably.

Finally, panelists strongly urged all stakeholders, especially CSOs across Africa, to lobby their governments to rally behind the African group, which, more than ever, needs a solid and united push in the negotiations around the UN Tax Convention process. 

The Pan African Conference was officially closed with the reading of the Tunis Declaration. 

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Climate and Environmental Justice

We have advanced rights-based and gender-transformative transition frameworks through research that centres the lived experiences of women and marginalised communities on the frontlines of extractive energy policies, promoting climate and energy frameworks attentive to the social and care-related impacts of transition pathways. We have developed a clear vision for a gender-just transition, firmly rooted in gender and human rights norms, establishing both the legal basis and the direction for the transformative changes our planet and societies urgently need. In particular, the ‘Guiding Principles for Gender Equality and Human Rights in the Energy Transition’, a collective effort built through online consultations, an in-person workshop and multiple rounds of revision with activists, practitioners and experts from around the world, outline a transformative vision for reshaping global energy systems through a human rights and gender equality lens.

Our work recognises that the climate emergency is both an existential threat and an opportunity to reimagine societies built on social, gender, economic and environmental justice. We ground our advocacy in feminist and intersectional principles, prioritising the agency and perspectives of communities in the Global South who have contributed the least to the climate emergency yet face its most devastating consequences. Central to our approach is the understanding that energy is not merely a commodity but a fundamental human right; essential for dignity, health, education, work and the realisation of countless other rights. We challenge approaches to the energy transition that risk replicating the harmful patterns of fossil fuel extraction and, instead, advocate for transformative policies that ensure human rights and gender equality as central to building climate-resilient societies rooted in dignity, justice and planetary well-being.

What's next?

We will continue to challenge approaches that treat energy transition as merely a technical shift, instead positioning it as an opportunity to reimagine economies and societies rooted in dignity for all, with particular attention to communities in the Global South who have contributed least to the climate emergency yet are most exposed to its worst effects.

We will connect community-level evidence and the lived experiences of those on the frontlines of extractive policies to national reform and global norm-setting, breaking down silos between human rights, gender, and climate movements, and advancing a shared vision that recognises just transitions as not only fundamental to achieving climate-resilient and sustainable societies, but as transformative pathways that advance social and gender equality, redistribute power and resources equitably, and ensure that energy systems serve the public good rather than profit.

We will mainstream rights-based and genderjust transition priorities in key multilateral spaces (particularly, within the Just Transition Work Programme and the to-be-developed Just Transition Mechanism, within the UNFCCC) to guarantee that just transitions are advanced at all levels.

We will also translate our work, through strategic advocacy, into at least two concrete policy wins, whether promoted, adopted, implemented, or scaled, in priority countries (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Colombia, South Africa, or Kenya), ensuring these policies align with human rights standards, centre gender equality, and reflect the needs and views of affected communities.

We will build momentum for the progressive recognition of the right to sustainable energy to shift dominant narratives away from purely extractive solutions that sideline gendered impacts, community participation, and Global South perspectives.

Economic Justice and Climate Finance

Our work has transformed the global discussion on fiscal policy in a more just, emancipatory and sustainable direction. Our approach has combined both high-level, expert contributions within decisionmaking circles, with bold, impactful work on narrative change with the general public.

We have been instrumental in the inclusion of human rights as a guiding principle of the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, a multilateral instrument with the potential of raising approx. USD 492 billion per year in public revenues currently foregone to global tax abuse. In the process leading to the ‘Compromiso de Sevilla’ decided at FfD4, we proposed and succeeded in creating a specific human rights workstream within the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism, which was critical to ensure that explicit commitments on the matter were included in the negotiating outcome. In a context of cutbacks in multilateral institutions, we have amplified the capacities of technical experts, providing rigorous technical support and leveraging our influence to ensure the enactments of groundbreaking standard-setting instruments, such as the 2025 UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Statement on Fiscal Policy and Human Rights, and the first ex oficio hearing on the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on Fiscal and Economic Policies to Address Poverty and Structural Inequality, leading to an upcoming thematic resolution on the matter. We have also bridged the silos between multilateral tax discussions and climate finance debates, promoting ambitious financing commitments to increase international and domestic resource mobilisation during COP 28, 29 and 30.

At the regional level, our engagement with fiscal cooperation platforms such as the Platform for Fiscal Cooperation of Latin America and the Caribbean (PTLAC), where we are member of its Civil Society Consultative Council, and the African Anti-IFFs Policy Tracker, for which we participated in the pilot mission in Ivory Coast together with Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), have been critical in cementing a growing engagement between tax administrations and ministries of finance with international legal experts, exploring actionable and transformative initiatives, such as the taxation of high-net-worth individuals, beneficial ownership registries and corporate countryby-country reports, to be implemented at the international level.

At the local level, our interventions in fiscal reform debates in Chile, Brazil, Colombia and Nigeria have contributed to shaping legislative outcomes in a more progressive, rights-compliant direction.

As for our leadership in narrative change, we have a measurable track record in delivering tailored, innovative campaigns which have decisively expanded economic justice constituencies by appealing to a broader tent. In Latin America and the Caribbean, we created the ‘Date Cuenta’ campaign, coordinating over 40 organisations across civil society to deliver plain language, innovative messaging connecting progressive fiscal reforms to the financing of health, education and social protection. ‘Date Cuenta’ generated over 55 original campaign messages that were tailored to the realities of seven priority countries (Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Mexico, Paraguay, Peru and Honduras) and disseminated in Spanish, Portuguese and English. In doing so, we convened more than 65 online co-creation workshops with partners, coordinating a unified communications strategy which combined digital outreach, press and media coverage, and collaboration with influencers. Ultimately, ‘Date Cuenta’ resulted in more than 60,000 interactions on social media, coverage in major regional and international media outlets, including El País, Deutsche Welle, Bloomberg and France 24, and the participation of at least 63 social media influencers through 58 dedicated publications. In collaboration with Fundación Gabo and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung, we also organised a two-day workshop in Bogota with 20 journalists from 13 countries, building a regional network trained in a human rights-based approach to fiscal policy that has since generated published media coverage on outlets such as La Diaria, Ciper, El Diario Ar and Milenio. Through ‘Date Cuenta’ and our regional advocacy, we strengthened civil society engagement in key processes, including the Financing for Development track and FfD4, co-organised highlevel dialogues with states and civil society from Latin America and Africa.

What's next?

We will shape the UN Tax Convention and its Protocols so they embed human rights principles, and we will stay engaged through follow-up processes (including the expected Conference of the Parties) to support effective implementation. We will keep linking tax and climate finance so that new resources mobilised through fiscal cooperation are channelled to adaptation, mitigation, and loss and damage, in line with UNFCCC commitments.

Public Services for Care Societies

We have translated participatory research into accountability and policy outcomes.

In Ivory Coast, our work with Mouvement Ivoirien des Droits Humains and affected communities since 2023 exposed how privatisation and lack of accountability restrict access to quality healthcare. It contributed to the closure of 1,022 illegal private health centres, an executive instrument strengthening the regulation of private hospitals across the country, and the creation of a permanent complaints management committee in healthcare through a bylaw issued by the prefect of Gagnoa. Partners engaged through this process also advanced concrete improvements at facility level: members of the Gagnoa Midwives Association who took part in the participatory action research pooled resources to renovate the neonatal unit of the Regional Hospital, and the Director of the Gagnoa General Hospital launched an action plan to expand services and improve patient reception, with the facility receiving the award for best hospital in the country in 2025.

In Kenya, our research with the Mathare Education Taskforce documented the absence of public schools and the expansion of private provision, evidencing impacts on households and caregivers and strengthening demands for free, quality public education. This work contributed to stronger community agency and collective organisation, alongside ongoing strategies ranging from communications to litigation to secure a public school in the area, some involving GI-ESCR and others led independently.

Across Africa, this work is complemented by a multi-country study examining the human rights implications of austerity in education and health, including how regressive fiscal policies, rising debt burdens and persistent underinvestment undermine the financing and delivery of public services.

In Latin America, from 29 November to 2 December 2021, over a thousand representatives from over one hundred countries, from grassroots movements, advocacy, human rights, and development organisations, feminist movements, trade unions, and other civil society organisations, met in Santiago, Chile, and virtually, to discuss the critical role of public services for our future. Following the meeting, the Santiago Declaration on Public Services was adopted to demand universal access to quality, gender-transformative and equitable public services as the foundation of a fair and just society.

We are currently advancing work on care systems, linking public services and fiscal justice through integrated research, advocacy and communications, including a regional campaign framing care as a collective responsibility requiring sustained public investment.

What's next?

In Ivory Coast, we will evaluate and strengthen the complaints management committee and position it as a replicable model for other health facilities. In Kenya, we will support the Mathare community to co-design a model public school for Mabatini and Ngei wards, grounded in human rights standards. Building on our multi-country austerity study, we will drive national advocacy on financing for education and health: advancing reforms in Ghana; launching a fiscal policy and public services financing agenda in Kenya through the CESCR process and targeted coalition work; and, in Nigeria, using the new tax acts in force since 1 January 2026 to catalyse a national accountability campaign for adequately funded, quality public services. In Latin America, we will amplify locally led care pilots across 8 countries and turn lessons into influence—advancing care policies that strengthen care organisations, protect care workers’ rights, support unpaid caregivers, include disability and family networks, and redistribute care more equitably.