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Statement to ECOSOC on New and Innovative Ideas for Generating Funds (23 July 1997) Statement to ECOSOC on New and Innovative Ideas for Generating Fund
by the International Youth and Student Movement
for the United Nations (ISMUN)Geneva, 23 July 1997
Mr. President,This statement is made on behalf of the International Youth and Student Movement for the United Nations (ISMUN). Other NGOs associated with the statement include Global Policy Forum, the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom and the World Federalist Movement.
Last year we addressed the substantive session of ECOSOC in New York on the item, "New and Innovative Ideas for Generating Funds" and emphasized that innovative finance must not be an excuse for states to further reduce their contributions to the operating funds of the UN system, or not to meet the 0.7 per cent target for official development aid.
We affirmed that the need for international institutions was greater than ever, and that more, not less funding was needed to meet the global development objectives. The potential resources exist. The global economy is generating more wealth, more production, more human labour and ingenuity than ever before in history. It is therefore our task to tap these gigantic resources for the common good of humankind.
We pointed to various proposals that have been made for global taxes and fees, including the Tobin tax, taxes on international air travel and fees for use of the global commons. We went on to call for ECOSOC to initiate feasibility studies, expert consultations and intergovernmental deliberations, with an aim towards implementing one or more of these important initiatives.
Today, a year later, we are glad to find that measures such as global taxes and fees are receiving increased support from political leaders, academics and NGOs. We are disappointed, however, that the Secretariat's report entitled "New and Innovative Ideas for Generating Funds for Globally Agreed Commitments and Priorities" (E/1997/85) ignores proposals for international revenue mechanisms that originated the discussion. The report in paragraph 10 flatly states that... "ideas or schemes for charges of taxes on international transactions do not appear viable and are therefore nor presented in the present report".
This seems to us a regrettable act of self-censorship when several of the most prominent studies and commissions on the future of the United nations have given serious attention to these ideas. The question of global taxes and fees have also figured prominently in several editions of the UNDP Human Development Report and recently a number of senior staff members of UNDP, including the Director of the Office of Development Studies, published an important book on the Tobin Tax.
Furthermore, proposals for global taxes and fees have been discussed in the Commission on Sustainable Development and in the process leading up to the Special Session of the General Assembly to Review Agenda 21 and have received considerable support.
We would hope that the world has not retreated from the promising possibilities of global taxes and fees. Due in large measure to threats from one important member state and to the poison emanating from some of its legislators, the international community appears to shy away from this subject. The Secretariat's report on the subject indicates a retreat from any serious consideration of the issue. Instead, it refers to market mechanisms and national and private initiatives, some of a philanthropic character, without global coordination through the UN.
The United Nations should not allow itself to be paralyzed on this important matter while the world's people are paying an enormous price in terms of a deteriorating global environment and regression in development.
We take this opportunity to urge ECOSOC to recover its spirit and its capacity for action. Considerable research, discussion, and democratic debate will be required to build the necessary level of public support and confidence in taking the necessary steps. The process must be brought under way now if it is to be implemented in near future.
We submit that a range of different alternatives for global taxes and fees are practical and achievable within a relatively short time. A tax on air travel could, for example, be easily collected even if a few countries decide not to join. The exploratory work and negotiations for the first phase of innovative funding mechanisms should concentrate on the type of taxes and fees that could be implemented without building cumbersome structures. Any funds raised should be placed firmly within the framework of the UN and under the authority of the General Assembly.
In addition to providing funds for development, new and innovative funding sources could also be utilized to build up a substantial capital fund for the United Nations to supplement its regular income, which would stabilize its financial situation and contribute to the integrity and independence of the world organization.
We ask ECOSOC to seize the initiative and propose to the General Assembly a strategy of intergovernmental negotiations for a package of global taxes and fees which would be able to meet the basic globally agreed development objectives to be concluded before the end of 1999 and presented as a Gift to the Millennium.
Bold actions are needed to move the process forward and to take an indispensable step towards stronger global institutions which alone can address the big problems that beset the world. We have a unique opportunity to strengthen and develop human society for the twenty-first century. Let us move forward with courage and audacity.
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