Social Watch News

Iraqi al-Amal Association in collaboration with Ala Ali (Independent Researcher/Analyst and Peace Activist) conducted a focus-group based conflict analysis of the Iraqi province of Nineveh. The findings provide important insights into recent developments in Iraq, and the advancement of ISIS.

Several key issues contributing to and sustaining conflict were identified through this research, as were points of entry for peacebuilding, which can be capitalised on to reduce tensions.

There has been no shortage of highly publicized scandals involving the financial sector in recent years, from the crash in 2008 onwards. A much less known, yet equally shocking, one is the key role banks play in enabling corruption, which has a devastating impact on people around the world. This is the focus of Banks and Dirty Money, a recently published report by Global Witness. It highlights how regulatory failure lies at heart of this problem too.

Corruption is “public enemy number one” in the developing world, according to Jim Yong Kim, the President of the Word Bank. In poor countries it kills people and traps millions more in poverty. When unscrupulous officials steal vast sums of state money, they decimate funds that should be spent on vital services like health care, education and infrastructure.

The outcome reached by the international track of sustainable development objectives amounts to a dangerous twist in the concept of development, especially in terms of determining the roles of stakeholders in the development process. For example, it proposes giving the business sector the key role, being a contributor to job-generating growth. This comes before the adoption of “business-binding human rights standards.”