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	Why unfair tax treaties hold back developing countries by UN News, ActionAid UK, agencies   30 June 2016   A United Nations independent human rights expert today deplored the conviction of two whistleblowers who revealed how tax avoidance and tax evasion occurred in Luxembourg banks in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal.   “Whistleblowers are heroes of our time and serve society and human rights,” said Alfred de Zayas, the UN Independent Expert on the promotion of a democratic and equitable international order.   “We seem to live in an upside-down world in which whistleblowers are convicted and those who loot society are not.”   Mr. de Zayas warned that so long as there are widespread tax avoidance, tax evasion and tax havens, States will not have the financial capacity to meet their human rights treaty obligations.   His comments follow the sentencing of two former PricewaterhouseCoopers employees to 12 and nine-month suspended sentences, respectively, for leaking documents revealing how Luxembourg granted lucrative tax breaks that saved firms including Apple, Ikea and Pepsi billions of dollars in taxes. The journalist who reported on the leaks was acquitted.   Parliaments should adopt robust legislation not only to protect whistleblowers but also to reward them for contributing to ethics and integrity, especially in a sector where professional secrecy is at a peak, the expert said, highlighting how the trial decision in the so-called LuxLeaks scandal may discourage individuals from reporting abuses.   In his upcoming report to the UN General Assembly to be presented in October 2016, the independent expert will address the adverse human rights impact of tax havens and tax evasion. http://bit.ly/29e8uBA   http://www.taxjustice.net/2016/06/29/luxleaks-whistleblowers-verdict-statement/   June 2016   Why unfair tax treaties hold back developing countries, by Lovisa Moller. (ActionAid UK)   Developing countries lose out on billions of dollars each year as a result of their tax treaties with wealthier countries. If countries are to raise more revenues to invest in eradicating hunger, giving all children a good education and eliminating all forms of violence against women and girls, then we need to make sure our tax treaties are in line with our development objectives. The UK has more work to do than most.   Did you know that foreign investors in Uganda can get a tax free deal when they send payments to shareholders via the Netherlands? Or that many corporate payments to the UK are tax free in Malawi due to a colonial-era tax agreement? Or that Chinese construction projects in Mongolia are often out of reach of local tax collectors?   This is all made possible by tax treaties. They set the rules of the game. Tax treaties between countries define when multinational corporations can, and can’t, be taxed. They play a facilitating role in many well-known tax avoidance schemes and often make it possible for big business to significantly reduce the tax they pay in the countries where they make their profits. High-income countries including the UK, Italy and the Netherlands all have very restrictive tax treaties with developing countries, such as Bangladesh.   Bangladesh gives up around US$85m a year as a result of a single clause in its tax treaties. In the capital Dhaka, there is a severe shortage of public transport and women repeatedly experience sexual assaults on the overcrowded buses. It is estimated that another 3,000 buses are necessary to meet the huge needs of the city’s population, which would get Bangladesh one step closer to the sustainable development goal ambition to “make cities inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”. Dropping just this clause from Bangladesh’s tax treaties would raise enough public funds to cover the cost of purchasing about 1,000 new buses each year.   The poorest people in the world lose out the most when ineffective global tax rules make it possible for big business to cut their tax bills. Public services like schools and hospitals are left desperately underfunded and when essential public services are absent or inadequate, women and girls pay the highest price. On top of that, spending to combat gender inequality is falling dramatically short.   Erik Solheim from the OECD highlights the need for tax transparency, capacity building and reforms. If we’re serious about addressing the sustainable development goal funding gap, we need to go further. We need to take a look at the full set of tax rules in place and question if they’re fit for purpose. Tax treaties are a good place to start.   The IMF’s experts have found that “treaty shopping” – the use of tax treaty networks to reduce tax payments – is a major issue for many developing countries, which would be well-advised to sign treaties only with considerable caution.”   It’s time for developed countries, which have far more resources to evaluate the impact of these treaties, to start taking responsibility for their involvement. Developed countries should review their tax treaties with developing countries to ensure they prioritise the fight against poverty.   Some tax treaties, like the UK’s treaty with Malawi, are old and outdated. Others, like the Netherlands’ treaty with Uganda, illustrate the race to the bottom in some taxing rights that is prominent in recent treaties. These powerful agreements are negotiated behind closed doors and receive minimal scrutiny from our parliaments before they enter into force. This has to change.   Tax treaties can be re-written. The rules of the game can change. This week, tax justice activists in Uganda finally heard from their government that all double taxation agreements are going to be renegotiated to reach more favourable terms. Activists in Malawi and the UK are currently campaigning for a fairer new treaty between our countries, which is now under negotiation.   If country leaders are serious about their commitment to the sustainable development goals and tackling poverty, they need to make the impact on development financing a top priority when tax rules are agreed. Ensuring that tax treaties don’t block developing countries from collecting a fair share of tax from multinational corporations is a good place to start.   * Erik Solheim, Chair of the OECD Development Assistance Committee:   ''Every year, large corporations move money to countries where they pay minimal taxes. The OECD estimates that as much as $240bn every year is lost in tax revenue as a result of tax avoidance techniques ($2.4 trillion dollars over the last decade).   Multinational companies artificially shift their profits to countries with no or low tax jurisdictions. Developing countries reliance on corporate income tax means they suffer disproportionately. There is currently more money going out of Africa illegally than all the aid it is provided. If we are to have any hope of meeting the world’s 2030 targets for sustainable development, tax systems will play a crucial role. In order to develop, countries need to have control over their own income through effective tax systems''.   http://www.actionaid.org/tax-power http://bit.ly/28X4pAt Visit the related web page
	ISIS is committing genocide against the Yazidis by UN Commission of Inquiry on Syria   16 June 2016   The so-called Islamic State of Iraq and Al-Sham (ISIS) is committing genocide against Yazidis, according to a report, “They Came to Destroy: ISIS Crimes Against the Yazidis”, issued today by the independent international Commission of Inquiry on the Syrian Arab Republic. The report by the Commission of Inquiry also determined that ISIS’s abuse of Yazidis amounts to crimes against humanity and war crimes.   “Genocide has occurred and is ongoing”, emphasised Paulo Pinheiro, Chair of the Commission. “ISIS has subjected every Yazidi woman, child or man that it has captured to the most horrific of atrocities.”   As per the Commission’s mandate, the report focuses on violations committed against Yazidis inside Syria, where thousands of women and girls are still being held captive and abused, often as slaves. The Commission also examines how the terrorist group forcibly transferred Yazidis into Syria after launching its attacks on northern Iraq’s Sinjar region on 3 August 2014. Collected information documents evidence of intent and criminal liability of ISIS’s military commanders, fighters, religious and ideological leaders, wherever they are located.   The Commission’s findings are based on interviews with survivors, religious leaders, smugglers, activists, lawyers, medical personnel, and journalists, as well as extensive documentary material, which corroborate information gathered by the Commission.   ISIS sought – and continues to seek – to destroy the Yazidis in multiple ways, as envisaged by the 1948 Genocide Convention. “ISIS has sought to erase the Yazidis through killings; sexual slavery, enslavement, torture and inhuman and degrading treatment and forcible transfer causing serious bodily and mental harm; the infliction of conditions of life that bring about a slow death; the imposition of measures to prevent Yazidi children from being born, including forced conversion of adults, the separation of Yazidi men and women, and mental trauma; and the transfer of Yazidi children from their own families and placing them with ISIS fighters, thereby cutting them off from beliefs and practices of their own religious community”, the report says.   ISIS separated Yazidi men and boys over 12 from the rest of their families, and killed those who refused to convert, in order to destroy their identity as Yazidis. Women and children often witnessed these killings before being forcibly transferred to locations in Iraq, and thereafter to Syria, where the majority of captives remain.   Thousands of women and girls, some as young as nine, have been sold in slave markets, or souk sabaya, in the Syrian governorates of Raqqah, Aleppo, Homs, Hasakah and Dayr Az- Zawr. ISIS and its fighters hold them both in sexual slavery and in slavery, the report says, with Yazidi women and girls being constantly sold, gifted and willed between fighters. One woman, who estimated she had been sold 15 times, told the Commission, “It is hard to remember all those who bought me”.   “Survivors who escaped from ISIS captivity in Syria describe how they endured brutal rapes, often on a daily basis, and were punished if they tried to escape with severe beatings, and sometimes gang rapes,”, said Commissioner Vitit Muntarbhorn.   Treated as chattel, many Yazidi women and girls are forced to perform household tasks, and are denied adequate food and water by their fighter-owners. The Commission also heard accounts of how some Yazidi women and girls committed suicide to escape the cruel torment.   Young children bought and held with their mothers are beaten by their ISIS-owners, and subjected to the same poor living conditions as their mothers, the report states. They are often aware of the abuse that their mothers are suffering. Yazidi boys older than seven are forcibly removed from their mothers’ care and transferred into ISIS camps in Syria where they are indoctrinated and receive military training. One boy, taken for training in Syria, was told by his ISIS commander, “even if you see your father, if he is still Yazidi, you must kill him”.   “ISIS has made no secret of its intent to destroy the Yazidis of Sinjar, and that is one of the elements that allowed us to conclude their actions amount to genocide”, said Commissioner Carla Del Ponte.   The report noted that ISIS, which considers the Yazidis to be infidels, has publicly cited the Yazidis’ faith as the basis for the attack of 3 August 2014 and its subsequent abuse of them. ISIS has referred to the Yazidi as a “pagan minority [whose] existence […] Muslims should question”, adding that “their women could be enslaved […] as spoils of war”.   Mr. Pinheiro stressed that there must be no impunity for crimes of this nature, recalling States’ obligations under the Genocide Convention to prevent and to punish genocide. The Commission repeated its call for the Security Council to refer urgently the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court, or to establish an ad hoc tribunal to prosecute the myriad of violations of international law committed during the non-international armed conflict.   The Commission further noted that, with no path to international criminal justice available, it is likely that the first such prosecution of ISIS crimes against the Yazidis will take place in a domestic jurisdiction. It is essential, the Commission stated, that States enact laws against genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.   The Commission urged international recognition of the genocide, and stated that more must be done to assure the protection of this religious minority in the Middle East, and the funding of care, including psycho-social and financial support, for victims of this genocide. Visit the related web page
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