South Centre Statement at the 9th session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Body to draft and negotiate a WHO convention, agreement or other international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response
March 2024
The South Centre underscores the imperative for an international binding pandemic treaty to prevent the recurrence of past failures like those witnessed during the COVID-19 crisis.
THE ROLE OF NET WEALTH TAXES IN PROMOTING EQUALITY AND FINANCING THE SDGS
South Centre Statement to ECOSOC Special Meeting on International Cooperation in Tax Matters
18th March 2024
The South Centre, an intergovernmental think tank of developing countries with 55 Member States from Asia, Africa and Latin America and the Caribbean, is pleased to share its views on the role of net wealth taxes in promoting equality and financing the SDGs.
PROMOTING INCLUSIVE AND EFFECTIVE TAX COOPERATION AT THE UN
South Centre Statement to ECOSOC Special Meeting on International Cooperation in Tax Matters
18th March 2024
The South Centre, an intergovernmental think tank of developing countries with 55 Member States from Asia, Africa and Latin America, congratulates the Chair and Members of the Bureau on their appointment to the all-important ad hoc committee to elaborate the Terms of Reference (ToR) for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (“UN Tax Convention”). The Ad Hoc Committee has a genuinely historic mandate as it has to design the architecture of the long-standing demand of the developing world for a UN Tax Body…
South Centre Statement to the WHO INB8
The pandemic instrument must increase equity, multilateral cooperation and accountability. See the South Centre’s statement to the 8th meeting of the World Health Organization’s Intergovernmental Negotiating Body:
South Centre Statement to the 7th meeting of the WHO Working Group on Amendments to the International Health Regulations (2005)
6 February 2024
The South Centre urges the WGIHR to ensure that equity issues are substantially addressed in the process of amendments to the IHR in accordance with decision EB150(3) which mandates the WHGIHR to “… address clearly identified issues, challenges, including equity …” in this process. To that end member States have submitted important textual proposals that seek to advance equity concerns in the IHR. As the WGIHR negotiations advance towards their culmination, it is critical that these proposals on equity, in particular articles, 13, 13A, 44 and 44A, are prioritised and treated on an equal footing with the other amendment proposals. Textual proposals on equity provisions should not be deferred to be addressed only in the INB negotiations, noting that while the INB negotiations concern an international instrument on pandemic prevention, preparedness and response, the IHR is an instrument that is different in scope and deals with public health emergencies of international concern. Equity issues are critical in both instruments.
WHO Executive Board 154th Session
South Centre Statement on Agenda Item 13: Antimicrobial Resistance
Increased global collaboration is needed to contain emergence and spread of drug-resistant pathogens.
Statement for the Third South Summit of the Group of 77 and China
Kampala, Uganda
21-23 January 2024
South Centre stressed that the theme of the G77 Summit ‘Leaving No One Behind ’ reflects the urgent needs and aspirations of the Global South towards meeting their Sustainable Development priorities.
The Centre highlighted the importance of South-South Cooperation for dealing with the most critical challenges of our time, eradicating poverty, healing and securing our planet, & shifting the world onto a sustainable and resilient path.
The South Centre stands ready to support developing countries and the G77+China to find common positions and mutual understanding in key areas of global governance and multilateral negotiations for effectively addressing the global crises that define our time.
Statement for the 19th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the Non-Aligned Movement
Kampala, Uganda
19-20 January 2024
The South Centre addressed the 19th Summit of NAM, and highlighted that international cooperation and SSTrC are vital for facing global challenges and fostering a more peaceful and interconnected world.
The Centre emphasized that the experience and achievements of NAM should play a major role in the efforts to reform the international economic order towards sustainable development, poverty eradication, and fair and equitable global governance.
The NAM has a major role to promote international cooperation, sustainable development, peace & security, and ensuring shared global affluence for its member States. The South Centre stands ready to support the NAM to achieve their common objectives and priorities.
Statement of the South Centre at the Sixth Intersessional Meeting of the Human Rights Council on Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda
18 January 2024
Leveraging human rights in the fight against illicit financial flows and corruption through greater international tax cooperation and fiscal transparency
THE WORLD EXPECTS COP28 TO AGREE ON CONCRETE CLIMATE ACTION
COP28 has raised expectations around the world that concrete actions will be taken to address the climate crisis, which is having devastating effects notably in developing countries. Read our statement:
Opening Remarks by Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director of the South Centre, at the “Conference on South-South Cooperation in International Tax Matters: Don’t cede your taxing rights by signing a blank cheque”, co-organized with the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (27 November 2023)
The Conference is taking place at a time of severe challenges to the global economy and, particularly, for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. Rising borrowing costs, tight global financial conditions and high debt burdens are constraining the fiscal space of many developing countries. These conditions make domestic resource mobilization through tax collection more important than ever. The taxation of foreign multinational corporations in the digital economy, in particular the Big Tech firms, has now become imperative both for providing much-needed revenues and for levelling the playing field of domestic companies in our countries.
Statement by the South Centre on the Historic UN Resolution Calling for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation
23 November 2023
The South Centre strongly welcomes the adoption on 22 November 2023 of the historic resolution in the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly on the “Promotion of inclusive and effective international tax cooperation at the United Nations”. The resolution calls for establishing a “Member State-led, open-ended ad hoc intergovernmental committee for the purpose of drafting terms of reference for a United Nations framework convention on international tax cooperation” and is arguably the most significant development in international taxation in the modern era. The South Centre has been actively engaged in supporting these negotiations, in partnership with various institutions from the Global South and allies from the Global North, and commends the African Group in the UN in New York for their leadership of the developing world in steering through this momentous resolution.
