> Skip to main content
Category

Economic Justice

portada del informe "Resultados del endeudamiento con el FMI sobre los cuerpos de las mujeres en Ecuador"

The Impact of IMF measures on women in Ecuador

By Economic Justice, Ecuador

Two years after a global pandemic, the measures of austerity have profoundly exacerbated inequalities. The dominant characteristics of austerity, which include inadequate and failed public services in education, health, social protection; income inequality driven in part by regressive taxes; and a skeletal role of the state built by privatization schemes. All this has led to a systematic erosion of the resilience of public systems, as well as of a social contract that safeguards the redistribution of wealth, resources and public goods towards equity and compliance with human rights.

This paper published by CDES examines the dynamics and implications of gender austerity in Ecuador in the context of its 27-month IMF loan program for USD 6,500 million, started in 2019 and redefined at the beginning of the pandemic in 2020 (IMF 2021). The fiscal consolidation program attached to the loan includes a wide range of measures. For example: extensive cuts in public spending focused on the health sector, relief measures labor deregulation, elimination of fuel subsidies, restrictions on ability of the central bank to finance liquidity problems in the pandemic crisis and privatization of state companies and public services, among many others.

portada del informe "Resultados del endeudamiento con el FMI sobre los cuerpos de las mujeres en Ecuador"

report cover

Hanging on a precipice: Public debt management research – Kenya

By Economic Justice

This study published by Tax Justice Network Africa sought to assess the implications of Kenya’s debt management on the advancement of human rights, and the 2030 Agenda. This necessitated the assessment of Kenya’s debt management frameworks, analysis of the implications of public debt on citizens, and assessment of the level of adoption of the 2030 Agenda in different facets of Kenya’s public finance space. The study was guided by research themes developed from the research questions.

The research themes included:
• Debt servicing and expenditure on sectors of the economy (including pro-poor sectors)
• Integration of human rights and the 2030 Agenda in Kenya’s planning and budgeting frameworks
• Kenya’s Debt data transparency
• Kenya’s Debt sustainability
• Kenya’s involvement in the multilateral agenda on debt

report cover

Documentary: ‘A story told by women: fiscal austerity and indigenous territories’

By Economic Justice, Ecuador

In this documentary produced by Centro de Derechos Económicos y Sociales (CDES), the Women of Plan de Vida Fenashp in Ecuador, the Federation of Indigenous Organizations of Napo (FOIN) and the Union of People Affected by Chevron-Texaco (UDAPT) tell the story of their lives as women in their communities facing fiscal austerity as a consequence of high debt service payments.

Watch the documentary

Diamond TV Zambia: “Debt and repercussions on the marginalised”

By Economic Justice, Zambia

The TV programme “Debt and repercussions on the marginalised” was broadcast on 23 June 2022 on Diamond TV Zambia. Panellists included Chama Mundia from JCTR and Mendai Imasiku from the Non-Governmental Gender Coordinating Council.

Watch the replay featuring JCTR

This programme was replicated as a radio show on 5FM Radio Zambia on 23 June 2022. Panellists included Chama Mundia from JCTR and
Claudia Pollen from the Consumer Unit Trust Society. You can listen here to the radio programme.

“When it rains, it pours”: Latin America and the Caribbean facing the consequences of pandemic and war

By Economic Justice, FfD processes

This document was prepared by LATINDADD with the contribution of its member organisation the Center for Economic and Social Rights – CDES.

The objective of this document is to present recommendations based on the studies carried out by these organisations on the context of the region, the analysis of development processes and recommendations in this regard.

Fighting inequalities in the global tax system: Stop the foxed from building the chicken coop

By Economic Justice, Philippines, Tax Justice

Global tax rules are biased in favor of multinational corporations, rich countries, and the world’s elite. Corporate tax abuses and other illicit financial flows remain unchecked, bleeding economies dry and depriving people of health, education, and other public services. Inequalities in the global tax system worsen inequalities everywhere.

The ‘tax deal’ proposed by the OECD/G7/G20 will only benefit rich countries and will not solve the fundamental problem of imbalances in global tax rules that place developing countries at a severe disadvantage.

The fox cannot be left to guard the chickens or the chicken coop. Dereje Alemayehu, of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice, argues that “trusting the OECD to set global rules on corporate tax when OECD member countries are responsible for over two-thirds of global corporate tax abuse is like trusting a pack of wolves to build a fence around your chicken coop.”

Stop the foxes. Fight inequalities in the global tax system and fight for just, progressive and gender-responsive systems. Stop corporate tax abuses and other illicit financial flows. Tax the rich, not the poor!

Debt management: Fiscal rules, rights and human development in Peru

By Debt Justice, Economic Justice, Peru

Since the early 1990s, the western world and Latin America have been implementing policies that minimize the role of the State in the economy. These policies are fiscal rules that condition the actions of the State in economic policy through rigid legal frameworks. Certainly, in the long term they have been successful in managing debt since their inception. However, these policies have not been the recipe for a broad guarantee of rights and better human development.

“Debt management in Peru: fiscal rules, rights and human rights”, is a new investigation from the Latin American Network for Economic and Social Justice (LATINDADD), produced by Jameson Alejandro Mencías, which seeks to open the door to a different understanding of macroeconomic, fiscal and debt sustainability, focusing on guaranteeing people’s rights.