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	Grassroots Justice Prize by Namati, UNDP, The Elders, World Justice Project   On World Social Justice Day, Namati and the Global Legal Empowerment Network came together with justice defenders from around the world to announce and celebrate the winners of the biennial Grassroots Justice Prize.   We first launched the competition in 2015 to shine a spotlight on great deeds in the field of legal empowerment. In 2017, the competition returned bigger and better than before with three prizes — one for innovation, one for courage, and one for scale and sustainability.   The competition opened in late October. Nearly 200 legal empowerment organizations from across the globe applied. Together, these applicants are tackling a wide array of justice challenges by helping people to know, use, and shape the law: from helping women, children, and families in India live lives free from violence, abuse, and exploitation, to working to decriminalize minor offences in Malawi that target marginalized groups such as sex workers and the homeless.   Selecting a winner from this inspiring pool of candidates was difficult. A panel of judges consisting of leaders and visionaries in the field of legal empowerment narrowed it down to ten finalists for each prize. The winners are as follows.   The Achmed Dean Sesay Memorial Prize for Innovation. WINNER: Nossas Cidades, Brazil   Nossas Cidades educates citizens on the rights afforded to them by law when they are confronted by state violence. They train people to gather evidence and file claims, then monitor the progress of cases. Their innovative use of technology, whether via social media, the internet, and mobile phone apps, ensures that public officials and law enforcement are held accountable for their actions.They are at the cutting edge of legal empowerment efforts today.   The Nomboniso Nangu Maqubela Memorial Prize for Scale and Sustainability   WINNER: Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice, USA/Mexico   Campaign for Migrant Worker Justice helps migrant farmworkers from Mexico organize to improve the working conditions in the fields in the US. CMJW trains these farmworkers on their legal rights, helps them to bring legal claims before government agencies, and raises awareness of unlawful practices and deficient laws and enforcement mechanisms.   Their close collaboration with unions and use of community fundraising makes their work sustainable and scalable. They are a shining example of how strategic partnerships with like-minded groups can expand the scope and impact of legal empowerment efforts.   The #WalkTogether Prize for Courage - WINNER: Kav LaOved, Israel   Kav LaOved defends workers rights and ensures the enforcement of Israeli labor law which is designed to protect every worker in Israel, irrespective of nationality, religion, gender and legal status. Most of the workers Kav LaOved assists are marginalized foreign nationals whose first-language is not Hebrew and who hold temporary employment visas allowing them to live and work in the country. Employers frequently take advantage of these foreign and migrant workers because of their vulnerable status in the country. The work of Kav LaOved takes true courage: defending the rights of foreign workers often goes against the tide of public opinion in a hostile political climate.   The winners were celebrated at a ceremony in Buenos Aires on World Justice Day. Mary Robinson and Hina Jilani of The Elders presented the winners with their awards and joined them in having a courageous conversation on what needs to be done to address the access to justice gap.   Grassroots justice defenders like these three organizations are bringing down barriers that prevent people and communities from accessing justice. But their efforts are underfunded and, in many places, under attack.   It was thus fitting that at the end of the ceremony, the Global Legal Empowerment Network announced the official launch of Justice For All, a global campaign that will push for increased funding and protections for those working for justice at the grassroots.   http://www.justiceforall2030.org/ http://namati.org/news/announcing-winners-grassroots-justice-prize/ http://namati.org/news/choose-winner-grassroots-justice-prize/ http://www.justiceprize.org/vote.html#finalists Visit the related web page
	States’ duty to tackle tax evasion and mobilise resources for human rights by International Bar Association   14 December 2017   The principal assertion of a new report by the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is that states have a legal obligation to mobilise all resources at their disposal, including those that could be collected through taxation, to satisfy minimum essential levels of human rights. It further asserts that, with capital flight depriving nations of vast amounts of tax revenue, states facilitating, or actively promoting, tax abuse at the domestic or cross-border level may be in violation of international human rights law.   The report, The Obligation to Mobilise Resources: Bridging Human Rights, Sustainable Development Goals, and Economic and Fiscal Policies, is published against the backdrop of increased awareness of the relationship between economic policies and human rights; greater scrutiny of inequality within, and between, countries; austerity measures implemented following the 2007–2008 global financial crisis; and insufficiently regulated financial flows.   In addition, the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (the ‘Agenda’), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015 by the heads of state and governments of 193 countries at a special UN summit, provides renewed emphasis on the question of the mobilisation of resources. The Agenda is explicitly anchored in human rights norms and principles, and recognises in paragraphs 18–20 that a rights-based approach should underpin all poverty reduction efforts.   As part of the Agenda, all 193 UN states have committed to ‘strengthen domestic resource mobilization, including through international support to developing countries, to improve domestic capacity for tax and other revenue collection’ (Sustainable Development Goal 17.1)and ‘significantly reduce illicit financial flows’ (Sustainable Development Goal 16.4).   IBAHRI Co-Chair Helena Kennedy QC stated: ‘When tax havens are allowed to continue to operate in a manner that starves developing countries of billions worth of potential income, this points to an unwillingness, rather than inability, by the international community to fulfil the particular UN Sustainable Development Goals to reduce inequality within and among countries. To maximise available resources in a non-discriminatory manner for the protection of human rights should be a moral goal for all.’   She added: ‘As the poorest and most vulnerable people around the world have felt the impacts of a global financial crisis, austerity policies, corruption and tax evasion, our new report demonstrates clearly that many states may have been side-stepping their obligation to maximise the resources available to protect the rights of all people.’   Based on a detailed examination of UN treaty bodies and the views of the UN Special Procedures, the purpose of the report is to ascertain the current interpretation of the scope and content of the obligation of states to mobilise resources for the realisation of human rights.   To this end, the assessments of the Special Procedures – independent human rights experts who report to, and advise, the UN on human rights issues – are essential to the debate addressing resource diversion and foregone tax revenues in compliance with human rights.   Topics such as the legal basis and guiding principles around the obligation to mobilise resources, as well as the opportunities and challenges in relation to that obligation, are covered in the report, which includes a number of recommendations, such as:   When addressing issues of resource mobilisation, special procedures and treaty bodies should ensure greater coordination among themselves, as well as the consistency and complementarity of their analyses.   Human rights monitoring bodies should consistently apply the legal developments related to resource mobilisation when reviewing states’ reports or undertaking country missions.   Special procedures and treaty bodies should:   Regularly request information from states on how they have adopted specific policy decisions: whether or not they have weighed costs and benefits of all policy choices and if policy trade-offs were explicitly addressed.   Provide more concrete, practical and detailed guidance to states about all aspects of the obligation to mobilise resources, including drawing attention to the prerequisite of the rule of law.   Consolidate, strengthen and further develop legal standards and methodologies to assess whether or not states have utilised all alternatives at their disposal for resource mobilisation.   Define the role and responsibilities of multinational corporations and other business enterprises in resource mobilisation for the realisation of human rights.   Develop a legal framework with which to assess tax lawyers, accounting and consulting firms’ responsibility for creating the mechanisms that companies and wealthy individuals use to avoid paying taxes.   Further, it is suggested that, when implementing austerity measures, states should not use the financial crisis to justify actions that amount to violations of human rights obligations, such as curtailing access to healthcare, education and other essential services, particularly for the most vulnerable in society.   IBAHRI Co-Chair Ambassador Hans Corell commented: ‘Broad in scope, the report demonstrates that states must garner and use resources in a non-discriminatory manner to ensure access to basic services for all, because the issue of resource mobilisation is at the core of the realisation of civil, political, social, cultural and economic human rights.   To ensure the adequate functioning of crucial state institutions, including the judiciary, the police and legal aid services, without which there can be no efficient access to justice nor protection of human rights, states must ensure that all available resources are properly mobilised as a matter of priority.’   He added: ‘The report is relevant to all countries, particularly those criticised by the UN for austerity programmes seen as violating human rights. The international community needs to act swiftly to reduce economic, social and geographical disparities and provide wealth redistribution to redress systemic discrimination and spur progress towards substantive equality.’   * Access the report via the link below: http://bit.ly/2j3AGsT http://bit.ly/2H2Navg http://bit.ly/2EOW1Ph http://bit.ly/2qysVi0 Visit the related web page
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