Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 247 - February 26, 2016

Civil society organizations have an opportunity to feed into an official but independent evaluation of the IMF policies and their impact on social protection in the coming weeks. The Bretton Woods Project (a UK-based NGO acting as a watchdog of the IMF and World Bank) will host a consultation with the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF on the key issues. "This is an invaluable opportunity to influence how the IMF's record over the last decade on social protection will be evaluated in a report to the IMF executive board that is independent" explains the BWP in its newsletter. In the draft issues paper the IEO quotes from ILO work, indicating an appetite to critically examine the IMF's record. Read more

The global supply chains of 50 companies employ only six per cent of people in a direct employment relationship, yet rely on a hidden workforce of 94 per cent of their labour needs according to new research from the International Trade Union Confederation.
“Just 50 companies including Samsung, McDonalds and Nestle have a combined revenue of $3.4 trillion and the power to reduce inequality. Instead they have built a business model on a massive hidden workforce of 116 million people,” said Sharan Burrow, ITUC General Secretary.
The ITUC report, Scandal: Inside the global supply chains of 50 top companies released on the eve of the World Economic Forum in Davos exposes an unsustainable business model, with a global footprint that covers almost every country in the world and profiles 25 companies with headquarters in Asia, Europe, and the United States. Read more

Ministers and senior officials of developed countries agreed mid-February major changes to what can be counted as Official Development Assistance (ODA, or ‘aid’), opening the door for greater use of aid to subsidise private companies. A push by some states for greater aid spending on military and security costs was partly rebuffed, after strong campaigning from civil society organisations, while discussions on how to reduce the huge amount of foreign aid being diverted to cover spending in donor countries to support refugees will culminate later this year. Read more

The debate about regulatory versus voluntary reporting that should be required of financial institutions is very much alive. This is one of the messages coming out of the Transparency and Accountability in the Financial Sector study done by the international civil society network Fair Finance Guide International (FFG).
The report examined key aspects relating to transparency and accountability, and to reporting about tax related issues, as they apply to 47 banks in seven countries (Belgium, Brazil, France, Indonesia, Japan, the Netherlands and Sweden), and includes case studies on others. Read more