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Resolution Supported by Vatican Adopted at UN HR Council June 27th, 2014
A resolution calling for establishment of a process to look into making the UN Guiding Principles on Human Rights and Corporations enforceable was adopted yesterday by the UN Human Rights Council. Among other things, the resolution establishes “an open-ended intergovernmental working group on a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, the mandate of which shall be to elaborate an international legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations and other business enterprises…
Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI, who represents the Oblates in dialogs with major multinational corporations said: “This resolution from the UNHRC is an important milestone in advancing the protection and promotion of human rights and provides transnational corporations with both the opportunity and the framework to participate in this essential endeavor.”
The full text of the UN Resolution is available here….
Vatican Issues Statement on the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights June 25th, 2014
His Excellency Archbishop Silvano M. Tomasi, Permanent Observer of the Holy See to the United Nations and Other International Organizations in Geneva submitted a statement on the UN Guiding Principles at the 26th Session of the Human Rights Council on June 11th. The statement, titled “Report of the Working Group on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises” is excellent, calling for the need to broaden dissemination of the principles, attain scale in implementation, build trust among stakeholders and overcome barriers to effective remedy.
The Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles) were endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council on 16 June 2011. The Guiding Principles provide an authoritative global standard for addressing adverse impacts on human rights linked to business activity around the world.
The Guiding Principles set out, in three pillars, principles concerning the State duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and access to remedy for victims of human rights abuse.
The following gives a flavor of the statement that reflects fully the Vatican’s concern for the impact of powerful economic structures and activity on the lives of ordinary people:
“The ability of international corporations to partially escape territoriality and carve for themselves an existence “in-between” national legislation is rightly one of the concerns of the International Community. Their mobility in terms of their country of incorporation, management, production, and financial flows allows them to navigate national legislations, take advantage of regulatory arbitrage and choose the jurisdictions that may offer the best return in terms of profits. Pope Francis, in his Apostolic Exhortation “The Joy of the Gospel”, and other religious leaders in the International Community have repeatedly pointed out that profit cannot be the only rationale of business activity. Transnational corporations are part of the human family and as such their activity should abide by the standard of human rights.”
“Another point of concern to the International Community is the inherent complexity of the transnational corporations regarding their diverse operating models (modus operandi) which makes them very hard to monitor and supervise. The resulting absence of robust and timely transparency makes it very difficult to measure compliance with rules and legislations. Human rights violations all too often occur out of utter neglect toward consequences that would have been foreseeable had anyone cared to think about them. These sorts of “neglects” are not casual, but systemic.”
IMF Paper: Corporate Tax Avoidance Hurts Global Economy and Poor Countries June 25th, 2014
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) released a staff paper noting that corporate tax avoidance negatively impacts all economies, but hurts developing countries the most. The IMF’s release comes as the G20, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and United Nations bodies seek vehicles to diminish corporate tax avoidance.
“The developing world loses more in corporate tax avoidance than it receives in aid from developed countries,” stated Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious anti-poverty group, Jubilee USA Network. “The paper shows that when multinational corporations shift their profits to another country to pay less taxes, we see higher levels of global inequality.”
The IMF paper is entitled “Spillovers in International Corporate Taxation.” “Spillovers” are the impact of one country’s policies on another country. By shifting profits to countries with low tax-rates (often so-called “tax havens”), corporations avoid paying their taxes in the countries where they make those profits. The paper notes that this is a particularly large problem in developing countries, which need corporate taxation to fund social services. The paper argues that “many developing countries…need to be better protected against the avoidance of tax on capital gains on natural resources.”
“These ‘spillovers’ are more like a flood,” noted LeCompte. “For every $1 poor countries are receiving in official aid, nearly $10 is leaving through corruption and tax avoidance.”
Thanks to Jubilee USA for this information.
2014 Trafficking in Persons Report issued by the US State Department June 23rd, 2014
We want to alert you to the 2014 Trafficking in Persons Report, released by the U.S. Department of State on June 20, 2014. The Report presents an assessment of what countries are doing to combat the scourge of trafficking in persons (TIP). This annual report, mandated by the U.S. Congress, is a valuable source of information for all people working to prevent TIP, as well as those involved in protection and education initiatives. Examining the state of human trafficking both in the United States and abroad, the report reflects the deep concern of the President, members of Congress, and the public over the serious human rights, health, and security implications of human trafficking around the world.
The introduction to the Report and the individual country narratives can be downloaded in PDF and HTML format here…
Pope Francis Encourages Attendees at Impact Investment Conference June 20th, 2014
The Holy Father met with participants of a Vatican-sponsored conference on impact investing – investments designed to serve the common good. The Pontifical Council on Justice and Peace organized a two-day sharing of strategies around impact investing – what is it, how it can help the poor and how to develop it further. Fr. Seamus Finn, OMI spoke at the conference on Tuesday.
The Pope said: “It is important that ethics once again play its due part in the world of finance and that markets serve the interests of peoples and the common good of humanity. It is increasingly intolerable that financial markets are shaping the destiny of peoples rather than serving their needs, or that the few derive immense wealth from financial speculation while the many are deeply burdened by the consequences.” His remarks reportedly offered a good summary of the issues, opportunities and challenges involved in impact investing.
Read Pope Francis’ address to conference participants here…
