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Publications | Events | Press Releases
New Publications
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From the ore to the car Summary Report - September 2012 Du minerai à la voiture Version abrégée Desde el mineral hasta el automóvil Versión abreviada The full report is available in German only |
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Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives: No future without justice – Report of the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives Download the report (pdf - 12.5 MB) The executive summary of the report is published by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung in its International Policy Analysis series (June 2012). Download the executive summary (pdf - 0.5 MB) |
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Heidi Feldt/Axel Müller: Transparency - an initial step towards resource justice. An interim balance of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the Central African Region Heidi Feldt/Axel Müller: La transparence – un premier pas vers la justice |
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Heidi Feldt/Axel Müller: We talk about petrol - Interim assessment of the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) in the Central African Region Heidi Feldt/Axel Müller: Parlons pétrole - Bilan intermédiaire de l'Initiative pour la Transparence dans les Industries Extractives (ITIE) dans la région d'Afrique Centrale |
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Jens Martens: Thinking Ahead - Development Models and Indicators of Well-Being Beyond the MDGs |
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Jens Martens: Steps Out Of the Global Development Crisis - Towards an Agenda for Change |
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Upcoming Events
"TAX JUSTICE - HUMAN RIGHTS - FUTURE JUSTICE"
International conference on November 27th in Berlin, Germany, at the headquarters of the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation.
A joint initiative by the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung, the Global Policy Forum Europe, MISEREOR, and terre des hommes in cooperation with the Tax Justice Network Germany
The debate around „tax justice“ is currently concentrated on combating tax evasion and avoidance as well as on the dismantling of the underlying structures that enable those practices.
In development policy oriented circles discussions focus on the precarious state of public finance in many countries in the South as well as around the issue of domestic resource mobilization through means of more effective tax systems and more efficient tax administrations. Problems here are domestic elites not paying their fair share; a good part of economic activity is happening informally; transnational corporations are evading effective taxation by using tax incentives and manipulative transfer pricing methods.
In the human rights arena the issue of „maximum available resources“ in combination with extraterritorial obligations of states is gaining increasing attention.
Parallel to this, the evolution of the discourse around eco-social tax and fiscal reform is progressing as instruments to curb environmental degradation, climate change and limiting the consumption of finite and rare natural resources.
Tax Justice, Future Justice and the fulfillment of Human Rights need to be advanced in combination. At our international conference, we want to learn from renowned experts on how to achieve this and debate their proposals.
Invitation and program (pdf, 350 KB)
Bonn Symposium 2012
Paradigm Shift 2015. Towards a New Sustainable Development Agenda
A conference by the Development and Peace Foundation in cooperation with GPF Europe and the United Nations Association of Germany
Deutsche Welle and Haus der Geschichte, Bonn
13-14 November 2012
Over the last decade, the development policy debate has been dominated by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). This set of development policy objectives has proved to be a very effective tool for public awareness-raising and campaigning on development issues. At the same time, however, the last ten years have also highlighted the weaknesses of a development policy approach which is focused primarily on combating the most extreme forms of income poverty and hunger and meeting communities’ basic needs. In view of the changes taking place in global economic and (power-)political relations – China’s upsurge in significance being an obvious example – the division of the world into “industrialised” and “developing” countries, with an affluent North and impoverished global South, seems increasingly anachronistic. In our ever more interdependent world, countries which were long characterised as “developing” or “emerging” nations are now helping to shape the international policy agendaand bringing their own ideas and concepts to the table. The global power shift, the emergence of new strategic alliances and the growing importance of global public goods are just some of the crucial factors influencing theinternational community’s efforts to negotiate a new development agenda. Some of the emerging countries are themselves now playing a greater role as development actors in other countries and regions of the world – amajor paradigm shift in the global development architecture. These changes bring new challenges and offer new opportunities. Above all, they force us to question the usefulness of development goals which, although formulated at the global level, are mainly relevant to a narrowly defined group of “poor” countries.
In recent years, processes which seek to identify alternative concepts of development and models of prosperity have been initiated at various levels. At the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20) the international community agreed to develop a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs). However, they will be elaborated in a different organisanional setting to the post 2015 Millennium Development Goals planning process. Aspirations to combine both agendas in the near future were disappointed.
Against this background, the Development and Peace Foundation (SEF), together with the Global Policy Forum and the United Nations Association of Germany, will give a discussion floor to those still demanding and working for a common agenda. The Symposium will explore the fundamental issue of what development will mean in an increasingly complex and differentiated world in future. Which new strategies and forms of cooperation must be developed at the global policy level in response to an increasingly diverse cast of actors and growing global interdependencies? This year’s Symposium will provide a platform here in Germany for the debate – now being conducted with growing intensity by international civil society and policy-makers – about the future of the MDGsand their institutional parameters, and, in particular, will explore the implications for UN institutions and other Bonn-based organisations.
Programme of the conferene (pdf, 640 KB)
Programme of workshops (pdf, 630 KB)
Participation is open to all. Please register by sending an e-mail to gerhardt[ät]sef-bonn.org.
International Workshop
Civil society strategies towards tax justice – what next?
hosted by MISEREOR, Global Policy Forum and terre des hommes
Bonn, Haus der Evangelischen Kirche, Adenaueralle 37, Germany
13 September 2011
Invitation and Programme (pdf - 70 KB)
Presentations at the Workshop (engl. pdf - 2.8 MB)
Latest Press Releases and Statements
5 September 2012
Briefing: Transparency rules for the extractive industries: US law and implications for upcoming EU legislation
On 18 September 2012, the European Parliament’s Legal Affairs committee is due to vote on revisions to the Accounting and Transparency Directives which include an essential requirement for EU-listed and large private extractive and forestry companies to disclose their payments to governments worldwide. A number of issues must be addressed in order for the legislation to be truly effective.
This briefing outlines the important implications for Europe following the adoption of rules in the United States on 22 August 2012 which govern a similar extractive industries transparency law.
Briefing for FAO JURI committee members (pdf - 600KB)
19 October 2011
Letter to Michel Barnier on the Adoption of Transparency and Accounting Directive proposals by the European Commission from an alliance of Civil Society Groups, Networks and Foundations.
Letter to Michel Barnier (pdf - 500KB)
Rethinking Development and Progress
alliance of Civil Society Groups, Networks and Foundations launches Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives
Beijing/Berlin/Montevideo/New York/Uppsala, November 15, 2010 – Today, an alliance of civil society groups, networks and foundations, including Third World Network, Social Watch, DAWN, the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Global Policy Forum, terre des hommes, and the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, launched the Civil Society Reflection Group on Global Development Perspectives.
The group consists of about 15 leading civil society activists, experts and academics from around the globe. The group will assess conventional and alternative models of development and well-being, reconsider development goals and indicators, including the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), draw conclusions for future development strategies and provide specific policy recommendations for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development 2012.
We find ourselves at a crucial point in time – fast approaching the 2015 deadline for the MDGs, while preparing for the 2012 Conference on Sustainable Development. Today’s unprecedented coincidence of global crises – economic, financial, food and climate – reveals the dead end to which the dominating models of development have led us. It is now time to break old ground, to draw lessons from these crises and to fundamentally rethink our goals and measures of development and social progress – in North and South.
The time between the Summits 2010 and 2012 provides a unique window of opportunity to reconsider the current development paradigm and to develop strategies towards a holistic, rights-based approach of global development and well-being. The Reflection Group will contribute to this process of rethinking.
Four meetings of the Reflection Group are scheduled to take place throughout 2011. The expected outcome will be presented in a report to be published prior to the 2012 UN Conference on Sustainable Development.
Group Members
Barbara Adams (Global Policy Forum, US), Beryl d’Almeida (Abandoned Babies Committee, Zimbabwe), Alejandro Chanona Burguete (National Autonomous University of México), Chee Yoke Ling (Third World Network, China), Ernst Ulrich von Weizsaecker (Germany), Filomeno Santa Ana III (Action for Economic Reforms, Philippines), George Chira (terre des hommes India), Gigi Francisco (Development Alternatives with Women for the New Era, Philippines), Henning Melber (Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation, Sweden), Jorge Ishizawa (Proyecto Andino de Tecnologias Campesinas, Peru), Karma Ura (Centre for Bhutan Studies, Bhutan), Roberto Bissio (Third World Institute/Social Watch, Uruguay) Victoria Tauli-Corpuz (Tebtebba Foundation, Philippines), Yao Graham (Third World Network-Africa, Ghana), Jens Martens (Global Policy Forum Europe, Germany), Hubert Schillinger (Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation, Germany), Danuta Sacher (terre des hommes Germany)
Further Information
www.reflectiongroup.org
Contact
info[ät]reflectiongroup.org
c/o Global Policy Forum Europe | Jens Martens/Wolfgang Obenland | Koenigstr. 37a | D-53115 Bonn, Germany