Event description
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Day 1 Sessions – 06 July
14:00 – 14:15: Conference welcome from the Partners
- Liz Nelson, Director, Tax Justice & Human Rights, Tax Justice Network
- Prem Sikka, Member of House of Lords UK, Senior Advisor, Tax Justice Network
- Anastasia Nesvetailova, Professor of International Political Economy, City, University of London
- Jeannie Manipon, Asian Peoples’ Movement on Debt and Development (APMDD)
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14:15 – 15:00: The 4 ‘R’s of tax justice and the realisation of rights
- Liz Nelson, Director, Tax Justice & Human Rights, Tax Justice Network
- Philip Alston, Professor of Law, NYU Law, Chair, Center for Human Rights & Global Justice
- Constanza Pauchulo, Programme Officer, International Women’s Rights Action Watch Asia Pacific (IWRAW Asia Pacific)
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15:00 – 16:00 More truths about ‘tax havens’: A conversation with Steven Dean & Attiya Waris
- Alex Cobham, Chief Executive, Tax Justice Network
- Attiya Waris, Ag Deputy Principal CHSS; Director Research and Enterprise and Assoc Prof Fiscal Law and Policy, University of Nairobi
- Steven Dean, Professor of Law, Brooklyn Law School
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16:00 – 17:00: Tax and representation rights – for who, and how?
- Yvette Lind, Assistant Professor in Tax Law, Copenhagen Business School
- Flávio Batista do Nascimento, Adjunct Professor, Sensu College, Student, Universidade Federal de Goiás
- Maria Ron Balsera, Tax and Education Alliance Coordinator, ActionAid International
- Leonard Wanyama, Coordinator, The East African Tax and Governance Network (EATGN)
- Matti Kohonen, Director, Financial Transparency Coalition
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17:00 – 18.00: Tax rights and racism: Keynote by Professor Dorothy Brown
- Dorothy Brown, Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Law, Emory University
- Priya Lukka, Economist in International Development, Visiting Fellow, Goldsmiths University
- Guppi Bola, Decolonising Economics
- Keval Bharadia, Political Economist
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Day 2 Sessions – 07 July
14:00 – 15:00: Profit shifting and tax avoidance; the impact of multinationals tax practices on labour and inequality
- Rachel Etter-Phoya, Senior Researcher, Tax Justice Network
- Margarita Lopez Forero, Postdoctoral Researcher, Evry University, Paris Saclay
- Swati Verma, Assistant Professor, Institute for Studies in Industrial Development , ISID, New Delhi, India
- Baptiste Souillard, PhD candidate, affiliated to the Université Libre de Bruxelles (ULB) and the European Center for Advanced Research in Economics and Statistics (ECARES)
- Cassandra Vet, PhD Student, University of Antwerp
- Fernando J. Loayza Jordán, Researcher, Tax Justice Network
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15:00 – 16:00: The devil is in the detail and in the shadows – illustrations to understand gendered impacts of private sector ‘interest’ and policy reforms that can counter
- Lyla Latif, Lecturer, University of Nairobi and PhD Researcher, University of Cardiff
- Jason Ward, Principal Analyst, Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research
- Toby Quantrill, Operations Co-ordinator, Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research
- Veronica Serafini Geoghegan, Speaker, LATINDADD
- Bilquis Tahira, Executive Director, Shirakat-Partnership for Development
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16:00 – 17:00: Transitioning to a caring economy
- Roos Saalbrink, Policy Adviser on Economic Justice and Financing for Development, ActionAid International
- Veronica Montufar, Equalities Officer and Project Coordinator, Public Services International
- Andreas Chatzidakis, Professor, Royal Holloway
- Lynne Segal, Emeritus Anniversary Professor of Psychology and Gender Studies, Birkbeck
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17:00 – 18:00: Keynote speech from Andres Arauz
- Andres Arauz, Tax and Social Justice campaigner and Ecuadorian presidential candidate
- Roos Saalbrink, Policy Adviser on Economic Justice and Financing for Development, ActionAid International
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Day 3 Sessions – 08 July
09:00 -10:00: Provocations: Our environment, Tax Justice and Human Rights
- Foto Pappa, LLM student in International Human Rights Law, Lawyer, University of Groningen
- Madhumitha Ardhanari, Senior Sustainability Strategist, Forum for the Future
- Anders Dahlbeck, Global Tax Policy and Programmes Manager, ActionAid Denmark
- Sandy Hager, Senior Lecturer in International Political Economy, City University of London
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14:00 – 15:00: Journalism, Whistleblowing: Serving the public interest and representative democracy
- Mary Inman, Head of International Whistleblower practice, Constantine Cannon LLP
- Osita Mba, Tax Law Adviser, TaxWatch
- Khadija Sharife, Investigative journalist and senior editor for Africa, Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project
- Joshua B. Dugan, Assistant Attorney General, New York State Office of the Attorney General
- Susan Coughtrie, Project Director, Foreign Policy Centre
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15:00 – 16:00: Tax Justice Network Conference Annual Lecture from Dereje Alemayehu
- Dereje Alemayehu, Executive Coordinator, Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ)
- Rachel Etter-Phoya, Senior Researcher, Tax Justice Network
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16:00 – 17:00: Anderson Lucas Norman award for Tax Justice Heroism
- Nicholas Shaxson, Writer and Researcher, The Tax Justice Network.
- Paul Caruana Galizia, on behalf of The Caruana Galizia Family.
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Day 4 Sessions – 09 July
13:00 – 14:15: The impact of tax policies on fiscal space and the financing of public services
- Dennis Sinyolo, Chief Regional Coordinator, Education International
- Yandura Chipeta, Head of Business Development, ActionAid Malawi
- Maria Ron Balsera, Tax and Education Alliance Coordinator, ActionAid International
- Everlyn Kavenge, Tax Justice Network Africa
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14:15 – 15.15: Going beyond the surface: translating human rights norms into concrete fiscal policy reforms
- Kate Donald, Director of Program, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
- Julieta Izcurdia, Lawyer, Asociación Civil por la Igualdad y la Justicia (ACIJ), Argentina
- Maria Fernanda Valdes, Project Coordinator, Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Colombia
- Chenai Mukumba, Policy Research and Advocacy Manager, Tax Justice Network Africa
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15:30 – 16.30: Tax justice and rights instruments: National and regional approaches
- Asha Ramgobin, Executive Director, Human Rights Development Initiative
- Alejandro Rodríguez, Principal researcher, Centre for the Study of Law, Justice and Society (Dejusticia)
- Ignacio Saiz, Executive Director, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR)
- Mario Guzmán Fredes, Researcher and Lawyer, Capacidad Contributiva
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16:00 – 17:45: The global tax justice policy horizon: FACTI, the UN and the OECD – where next for global taxing rights?
- Irene Ovonji-Odida, lawyer, women’s rights activist, Panelist, Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity High Level Panel (FACTI)
- Logan Wort, Executive Secretary, African Tax Administration Forum (ATAF)
- Manuel F. Montes, Senior Advisor, Society for International Development
- Liz Nelson, Director, Tax Justice & Human Rights, Tax Justice Network
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Spanish versions of our annual conference sessions are available here.
Conference Background
Each year, over $427 billion in tax is lost to the most egregious forms of international corporate and individual tax abuse. This costs countries around the world the equivalent of nearly 34 million nurses’ annual salaries every year – or one nurse’s annual salary every second. But while the expansion of research into credible measurement of these tax losses has helped to drive forward international policy responses, these responses are often disconnected from the human costs that result. This reflects a failure to properly consider “the 4 Rs of taxation”.
Without tax justice, states cannot raise the revenues to meet their obligations to provide the maximum available resources to promote human rights. Without effective taxation, states cannot deliver the level of redistribution necessary to combat gross inequalities. Without a functioning tax system, states cannot achieve the repricing of public “bads” such as carbon emissions, to ensure sustainable development. And last but far from least, without fair and transparent taxation, we do not see the development of effective political representation necessary to ensure accountable governments based on a healthy social contract.
In 2021, the UN’s High Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI) has thrown down the gauntlet. The Panel’s final report calls for a fundamental overhaul of the global architecture around tax and financial transparency, in order to address global inequalities in taxing rights between countries. Such an overhaul is crucial to ensuring that all states can deliver the 4 Rs.
The tax justice movement has in recent years worked ever more closely with human rights organisations to confront tax injustices and the resulting human rights failures, including the critical failures of women’s rights. Existing international legal instruments such as the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights have been utilised to enforce accountability, while domestic mass mobilisation campaigns have sought to raise public awareness and demands for action.
Co-organised by the Association for Accountancy & Business Affairs (AABA), City University of London (CityPERC), the Tax Justice Network and the Tax and Gender Working group of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), this virtual conference is the latest in an annual series dating back to 2003. The events bring together researchers, academics, journalists, civil society organisations, consultants and professionals, along with elected politicians and their researchers, and officials from national governments and international organisations. The purpose is to facilitate research, open-minded debate and discussion, and to generate ideas and proposals to inform and shape political initiatives and mobilisation.
