Date
Nairobi, 16th November 2020 – We, the undersigned civil society organisations meeting at the 8th Pan African Conference on Illicit Financial Flows and Taxation, are deeply concerned with the limited interest by African governments in the High-Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda (FACTI Panel) consultations and therefore call on African governments to actively participate by providing written and oral input into the FACTI Panel High-Level Africa regional consultation. To date, only the governments of the Republic of Sudan, Egypt, Nigeria and South Africa have confirmed participation at the ministerial level.
The FACTI Panel represents a critical institutional space to call for the implementation of measures targeted at curbing illicit financial flows and widespread tax evasion and tax avoidance that most harm countries in the Global South. We, therefore, urge African governments to participate in the FACTI Panel High-Level Africa Regional Consultation and use this opportunity to critique the shortfalls of the OECD processes and demand the establishment of a truly inclusive and democratic global tax governance structure.
Reforming the global structure of the international financial architecture and strengthening the fiscal and policy space for socio-economic transformation were key recommendations of the PAC conference. Civil society organisations meeting at this conference, therefore, call on African governments to demand that the FACTI Panel explicitly recognises the immediate need for a universal, intergovernmental tax body at the United Nations, where developing countries can defend and safeguard their national interests through collective action at the United Nations.
On 18th November, the High-Level FACTI Panel and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa will be hosting the High-level Africa regional consultation to discuss possible means to address the shortcomings identified in the interim report published by the FACTI Panel on 24 September 2020.
It is only by active participation can African leaders ensure the FACTI Panel’s final report addresses the needs of African countries as losers in a rigged international finance architecture. “As a citizen of this continent, I am saddened with the fact that African Ministers of Finance are taking the FACTI Panel consultations casually. This is the moment to the right an international tax system that has all along been rigged against us. We cannot afford to lose this moment!” said Alvin Mosioma – Executive Director, Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA).
The fundamental lesson that Covid-19 has taught us is the centrality of public resources to Africa’s development. As a continent, strengthening domestic resource mobilisation depends on ending IFFs. As a continent, strengthening domestic resource mobilisation depends on ending IFFs. “We must all work towards ensuring that the FACTI Panel’s final report builds better on the Mbeki led High-Level Panel Report on Illicit Financial Flows by clearly framing the analysis around IFFs”. added Mr Mosioma. To ensure we build back better and sustainably post Covid-19, our governments must ensure that the creation of a truly inclusive architecture of international tax cooperation to end IFFs. IFFs deny our governments billions of dollars that would otherwise be invested in public services particularly health, education and social protection. Our leaders cannot afford to go back to the easy path of debt.
Notes to Editors:
African civil societies hosted the 8th Pan African Conference (PAC) on Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) and Taxation from 9-13 November 2020. The theme of the 8th PAC conference was ‘The Africa We Want Post COVID-19: Optimizing Domestic Resource Mobilization from the Extractive Sector for Africa’s Transformation.’ The meeting focused on the critical need for African countries to maximise domestic resource mobilisation through addressing widespread tax abuses of transnational corporations engaged in extractive activities and the curbing of IFFs in light of the devastating impact of the Covid19 pandemic to build back better for the People and the Planet. Read more about PAC here.
The meeting focused on the critical need for African countries to maximise domestic resource mobilisation through addressing widespread tax abuses of transnational corporations engaged in extractive activities. It also discussed ways to curb IFFs in light of the devastating impact of the Covid19 pandemic to build back better for the People and the Planet.
The FACTI Panel regional consultations seek to bring together high-level representatives from member states, along with leaders from the private sector, civil society and academia. The inputs from these stakeholders will feed into the FACTI Panel’s determination of technically feasible and politically viable recommendations to be made in its final report in February 2021. To read more about the FACTI Panel, please visit their website here.
Signed by the Convenors of the 8th PAC on IFFs and Taxation.
Trust Africa organised the 8th PAC in collaboration with 18 co-conveners, namely: Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), African Union (AU), United Nations Economic Commission on Africa (UNECA), Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF), OXFAM, Action Aid, Integrated Social Development Centre (ISODEC), Ghana Integrity Initiative (GII), African Minerals Development Centre (AMDC), Publish What You Pay (PWYP), Stop The Bleeding (STB) Consortium, Pan African Lawyers’ Union (PALU), Zimbabwe Coalition on Debt and Development (ZIMCODD) and Centre Régional Africain pour le Développement Endogène et Communautaire (CRADEC), Youth for Tax Justice Network (YTJN), African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD) and the East African Tax and Governance Network (EATGN).
Contacts:
Chenai Mukumba, Policy Research and Advocacy Manager, TJNA, cmukumba@taxjusticeafrica.net
Joab Okanda, Financing for Development and Inequality Advisor, Oxfam, joab.okanda@oxfam.org