Online dialogue 3) Africa/Kenya and Uganda: illicit financial flows and tax justice.deutsch

Online dialogue with speakers* from/about Africa.

Redording Online dialogue 3) Africa/Kenya and Uganda: illicit financial flows and tax justice.

Experts predicted millions of COVID-19 deaths in Africa because of fragile health systems, high population densities in urban areas, poverty and a lack of safe access to water and sanitation. But the region seems to be successful in tackling the pandemic. Prevalence and mortality rates are still low.

However, the continent is hit hard by a severe debt and financial crisis. This will put a further strain on governments’ scarce budgets. Already before Covid-19, many African countries could not raise enough tax income. Illicit financial flows (IFFs) caused by tax evasion and avoidance, corruption and criminal activities exacerbate the problem. According to the Tax Justice Network Africa, illicit financial flows in Africa stand between 50 and 80 billion USD annually. 44 percent of the continent’s financial wealth could be held offshore, corresponding to tax revenue losses of around 20 billion USD. In the context of COVID-19, recovery assistance could be channelled out of Africa through criminal proceeds.

With low public budgets, policies aiming at fighting the pandemic, fulfilling social, economic and cultural rights and redistributing wealth, cannot be implemented properly. This has far reaching consequences, including the perpetuation of unequal gender relations.

In the Forum, we aim to highlight:
a) the effects of the pandemic in the region on the public sector, especially on public health
b) what IFFs are and the national & international conditions that enhance IFFs in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, especially with regards to IFFs
c) the role of IFFs in exacerbating inequalities and the role of IFFs and measures to counter them, and
d) how civil society could contribute to those efforts.

Date and time: Saturday, November 14, 2020, 10:00-12:00 a.m. (Austrian time).
Language: English.
Hosts: Martina Neuwirth (VIDC), Claudia Thallmayer (WIDE).
Moderation: Martina Neuwirth (VIDC)
Speakers*:

– Attiya Waris (Director of Research and Enterprise at the University of Nairobi and the only Professor of Fiscal Law and Policy in Eastern Africa; Nairobi/Kenya)

– Luckystar Miyandazi (Africa’s Institutions and Regional Dynamics Programme at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) ; Brussels/Belgium)

– David Kabanda (Center for Food and Adequate Living Rights; Kampala/Uganda)

 

Please find book recommendations about the topic from the C3-Bibliothek für Entwicklungspolitik (library for develoment politics) here.

Veröffentlicht in #web-ET2020! Global inequalities in the context of the covid-19 pandemic.