The UN General Assembly Resolutions on COVID-19: Solemn Assurances for Access to Health Technologies without an Action Plan
By Nirmalya Syam
The United Nations (UN) has the mandate under the Charter of the United Nations to promote solutions to international health problems, such as the global COVID-19 pandemic. While the UN secretariat, led by the Secretary-General, has undertaken a number of initiatives in response to COVID-19, member State initiatives in the UN has so far been limited to two resolutions adopted by the UN General Assembly. Member States are currently negotiating an omnibus resolution of the General Assembly on COVID-19. This policy brief analyzes the extent to which the General Assembly addresses the issue of timely, equitable and affordable access to health technologies, particularly for developing countries who have greater vulnerability to COVID-19. The adopted resolutions make very broad pledges for global solidarity but lack specific commitments to guide actions by member States. The omnibus resolution currently under negotiation should provide specific guidance to member States on actions to be taken based on the principles of solidarity and multilateral cooperation in diverse aspects impacted by COVID-19.
Collaboration or Co-optation? A review of the Platform for Collaboration on Tax
By Manuel F. Montes and Pooja Rangaprasad
The Platform for Collaboration on Tax (PCT), launched in April 2016, is an effort to intensify cooperation on tax issues among the staff of the OECD, IMF, World Bank and the United Nations. The PCT’s stated objectives include the production of joint outputs, strengthening interactions between standard setting, capacity building and technical assistance and sharing information. PCT has since produced toolkits on issues such as tax incentives, transfer pricing, and taxation of offshore indirect transfers. The PCT also held its first global conference in February 2018 at the UN where a concluding ‘conference statement’, negotiated among the four secretariats, was produced.
South Centre Statement for the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development
Below is the statement by the South Centre during the first session of the UNCTAD Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development (IGE Ffd) held in Geneva on 8-10 November 2017.
Title: Rethinking Development in the Context of the 2030 Agenda – A South Centre interaction with developing country delegations on key issues and challenges ahead in the implementation of the Agenda 2030 and the UNGA 72 session
Date:Thursday,21 September 2017, 16:00-18:00
Venue: Conference Room D at the UN Headquarters, New York
South Centre Statement to the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of 24
Below is the Statement by the South Centre’s Executive Director Mr. Martin Khor which was distributed during the Ministerial Meeting of the Group of Twenty-four held in Washington DC on 20 April 2017.
South Centre Presentation to the Special Event of the Second Committee of the UN General Assembly
UNCTAD organized a special event of the Second Committee of the United Nations General Assembly on 26 October 2016 in New York on “SOVEREIGN DEBT RESTRUCTURINGS: Lessons learned from legislative steps taken by certain countries and other appropriate action to reduce the vulnerability of sovereigns to holdout creditors”. Ms. Yuefen Li, Special Advisor on Economics and Development Finance of the South Centre, spoke as a panelist and alerted the UN Member States of the current legislative challenges facing the sovereigns when it comes to the need for sovereign debt restructuring including the impact of the plurilateral and bilateral trade and investment agreements.
Financing for Development Conference 2015: A View from the South
On 19 July 2014 the Open Working Group on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the United Nations agreed on a draft of a set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, taking the first steps toward a renewed development agenda for after 2015. The effort to agree on the SDGs was the follow up to the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), whose end-date is 2015. Aside from the 17 specific goals, the draft SDGs included 169 associated targets. (more…)
Input of the South Centre to the Report of the Secretary-General on the Implementation of UN General Assembly Resolution 69/5 dated 28 October 2014 on the Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba
On 28 October 2014, the United Nations General Assembly approved by an overwhelming vote of 188-2 a resolution (Resolution 69/5 ) reiterating its long-standing call upon all States to refrain from promulgating and applying unilateral economic and trade measures by one State against another that affect the free flow of international trade, referring in particular to the United States’ 1996 “Helms-Burton Act”, whose application has had extraterritorial effects that affect that sovereignty of other States, the legitimate interests of persons under their jurisdiction and the freedom of trade and navigation. (more…)
South Centre Statements on Sovereign Debt Restructuring Processes
The following are two Statements presented by the South Centre on Options for moving forward and Crisis Resolution & International Debt Workout Mechanisms for a multilateral legal framework for sovereign debt restructuring processes. (more…)
The Role of the United Nations in Global Economic Governance
Global economic policy issues are often addressed by specialized multilateral agencies in a fragmented, incoherent and inconsistent manner and often with failures in relation to certain areas of global policy – particularly in trade and finance – that have broader implications for the multilateral system as a whole. (more…)
Developing country perspectives on the role of the Development Cooperation Forum: building strategic approaches to enhancing multilateral development cooperation.
This Analytical Note follows up the study on stakeholder perspectives on the Development Cooperation Forum (DCF) prepared by the South Centre entitled “Reshaping the International Development Cooperation Architecture: Perspectives on a Strategic Development Role for the Development Cooperation Forum” (more…)
