PHM-Exch> Civil society rallies to prevent privatization of post-2015 process: What is the worry?

[Claudio Schuftan]

From: Luke Holland <lholland at cesr.org>


CIVIL SOCIETY RALLIES TO PREVENT PRIVATIZATION OF POST-2015 PROCESS


View this blog on the CESR website at: http://cesr.org/article.php?id=1576


After a lengthy process of consultation and deliberation, talks over the
post-2015 sustainable development agenda are now moving into the cut and
thrust of practical negotiation. As the process enters this more overtly
political phase, there is a very real threat that the voice of powerful
actors, especially those from the private sector, may drown out global
civil society's demands for a human rights-based framework, and with it the
possibility of a genuinely transformative agenda.

At key UN meetings last week in Helsinki and this week in New York, debates
intensified on the role of public-private partnerships in the future
sustainable development framework. Many governments, along with leading
figures from the corporate sphere, are pushing hard for the private sector
to be placed in the driving seat. In an age of deepening political and
economic inequality worldwide, shifting the already-skewed balance of power
even further towards such private actors would dramatically undermine the
chances of a just and sustainable development agenda with human rights at
its core, however.

Proponents of  such partnerships argue that in a world of increasing
resource scarcity it is precisely because of the immense capital they
control that private companies should be enabled to drive the development
process. Yet this standpoint fails to recognize the role that widespread
corporate abuses have played in undermining efforts to meet development and
human rights commitments. It also fails to take into account the
game-changing potential of funding sustainable development through public
resources that are currently untapped, in large part thanks to tax evasion,
avoidance and competition driven by the very same profit-seeking
institutions seeking to finance the sutainable development goals (SDGs).

The experience of the last few decades suggests that the types of legal or
policy incentives in the playbook for boosting an investor-friendly
environment-tax holidays and exemptions, weakened labor and environmental
protections, abusive stability and investment clauses, risk guarantees,
increased lobbying influence on public policy, biased market liberalization
and deregulation, especially in the financial sector-are the same policy
instruments which have undercut the foundations for sustainable
development, driven deeper inequality and undermined human rights and the
environment.

Without a clear-eyed assessment of the real risks of privatizing post-2015
and strong regulatory provisions to prevent them, corporate capture of the
post-2015 process threatens the key human rights principle of
accountability, which will be crucial to any development framework that is
truly inclusive. In years gone by, transnational corporate power has all
too often used its influence to avoid accountability rather than bolster
it. What's more, rather than furthering the cause of just development and
human rights, large multinational corporations have frequently been
involved in human rights abuses themselves. This has taken place both
directly, through the activities of the extractive sector for example, and
indirectly, through tax avoidance and policy manipulation.

With only months left before the new sustainable development framework is
agreed, civil society is rallying to wrest control of the post-2015 process
from the hands of corporations and return it to where it belongs - under
the purview of capable and legitimate governments acting in transparent and
democratic multilateral forums and in close partnership with civil society.

Throughout the past week, organizations from around the world urged UN
member states to reaffirm their role as primary protectors and guarantors
of human rights rather than mere enablers of private sector development. At
both official sessions and civil society side events this week, advocates
from Brazil, India, and Uruguay exposed the realities of power imbalances
and conflicts of interests inherent in private sector-led development
partnerships. In a statement to the Helsinki meeting issued by the Righting
Finance Initiative, CESR and its allies proposed a clear set of ex ante
criteria to guarantee primacy of a public post-2015 process and to
determine under what conditions private sector actors are fit to be
post-2015 partners. These criteria should examine, at the least:

(a) whether the private actor has a history or current status of serious
allegations of abusing human rights or the environment, including in their
cross-border activities;

(b) whether the private actor has a proven track record (or the potential
to) deliver on sustainable development commitments emerging from the
post-2015 process;

(c) whether the private actor has previous involvement in acts of
corruption with government officials;

(d) whether the private actor is fully transparent in its financial
reporting and fully respecting existing tax responsibilities in all
countries it operates, and not undermining sustainable development through
tax avoidance;

(e) any conflicts of interest in order to eliminate potential private
donors whose activities are antithetical or contradictory to the UN
Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the SDG framework.

Governments moreover should commit to take immediate measures at all levels
to ensure that businesses, at the very least, respect human rights and the
environment, including by mandating independent, rigorous and periodic
human rights and environmental impact assessments of large businesses.

Some governments are beginning to speak out against the growing corporate
capture of the sustainable development agenda. Speaking at the civil
society side-event, "Privatization of the post-2015 Development Agenda",
co-sponsored by CESR in New York earlier this week, Sergio Rodrigues from
Brazil´s Permanent Mission to the UN warned that corporate influence over
the post-2015 process could determine the future of the development agenda
for years to come. He cautioned that this debate was at its core a battle
over the future of the UN itself, and confirmed that his government would
be among those pushing for stronger mechanisms of accountability and
guidelines to regulate corporate engagement in development partnerships.

There is no doubt that the private sector does have an important role to
play in driving economic dynamism and a healthy job market, but it is only
when such profit-seeking activity is balanced by a strong and stable
regulatory and accountability frameworks, on a level playing field and in
equal partnership with the other actors involved, that we can realistically
expect it to contribute to the world we all need.

Indeed, as many advocates reflect on the week past, it's an open question
whether the UN as an institution could ever recover from the reputational
shock of its new chief private financiers being simultaneously the chief
violators of its most cherished principles.
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