A/HRC/23/54 Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation (2011), which articulated an increasingly comprehensive vision of development partnership that was inclusive of South– South cooperation and civil society. In July 2012, in follow-up to Busan, a number of development partners agreed to a governance and monitoring framework to maximize effective development cooperation. The Busan Partnership called for recipient countries to direct development efforts, the streamlining of conditionalities, enhanced parliamentary scrutiny, women’s empowerment and local and transparent procurement processes. According to Gemma Adaba, development effectiveness should be judged in terms of compliance with the core principles of people-centred, rights-based development, a view which was increasingly shared by the international community. 38. Jean Saldanha, Policy and Advocacy Officer on Resources for Development at Coopération internationale pour le développement et la solidarité, advocated the use of financial transactions taxes (FTTs) to meet the financial demands of satisfying human rights obligations. She argued for a more progressive, redistributive fiscal policy both nationally and globally to promote an enabling environment for development. Value added taxes and taxes on labour were the most common source of government revenue and the financial sector was comparatively undertaxed. She described FTTs as a potential solution to this inequity, noting that many countries already employed different variants of FTTs without significant negative consequences. New FTTs could raise considerable revenue, reintroduce a measure of equality and progressivity in taxation systems, and help Governments meet their legal obligation to commit the maximum available resources to respect, protect and fulfil human rights. In order for this to work, funds derived from FTTs should be designated for fulfilment of human rights, including the right to development, and allocated pursuant to a participatory process. Jean Saldanha concluded by recommending the integration of an FTT within the post-2015 development framework. 39. François Mercier, Desk Officer for Financing for Development and Programme Officer on the Democratic Republic of Congo at Fastenopfer (the Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund), described the negative development impacts of illicit financial flows, including the proceeds of bribery, theft, trafficking, trade mispricing and tax evasion. The majority of illicit financial flows out of developing countries were the result of tax evasion and mispricing rather than bribery, theft, and other causes. He presented a study of Glencore, a company involved in mining activities in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as an example. The study showed that Glencore activities contributed to severe environmental damage and social conflict, and that a large portion of Glencore’s profits were shifted to tax havens with resulting losses of revenue by the Democratic Republic of Congo. Francois Mercier argued that tax evasion threatened progress toward the Millennium Development Goals and recommended the promotion of initiatives such as the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and other measures to improve transparency and accountability. Finally, he called for the strengthening of the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters. 40. In the ensuing interactive dialogue, representatives of Social Justice in Global Development, the Association of World Citizens, the People’s Health Movement, NorthSouth XXI and Espace Afrique International discussed strengthening the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters, the impact of intellectual property laws on South–South cooperation, funding development through FTTs and the role of diasporas, migrant workers and remittances in contributing resources for development. 41. In concluding remarks, François Mercier agreed that the Committee of Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters should be strengthened, but noted that this was a political matter dependent upon Member States. Gemma Adaba discussed the need to continue to expand the role of South–South cooperation in providing access to low-cost generic drugs and also emphasized the importance of improving tax cooperation. Jean 11

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