Europe Development News |
Land “grabs” – risky business?
Instead of focusing on the ethics of land ‘grabs’, a new report by the Munden Project/Rights and Resources Initiative makes the business case for informing and/or compensating local communities, as failure to do so heightens investor risk. Where there is no real business case for doing “the right thing”” campaigning can help, responds Jonathan Glennie of the Overseas Development Institute.
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Credit: Oxfam International
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Europe’s migration strategy unfit to address changing landscape
The European Union’s five-year plans – the backbone of its migration strategy – are not fit to address Europe’s increasingly complex migration landscape, argues the Migration Policy Institute’s Europe Director Elizabeth Collett in the first of a series of policy briefs on migration in Europe. Europe must shift attention from annual arrivals limits to a more integrated, whole-of-government approach, she says.
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G20 finance ministers push transparency agenda
Following the G20 meeting of finance ministers in Moscow, British Chancellor George Osborne pledged in the Observer to push oil, mining and gas giants to publish key financial data project-by-project wherever they operate, and improve the capacity of developing countries to hold corporate giants to account.
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Credit: Flickr user Birmingham News Room |
Europe soft on conflict minerals
The European Union’s failure to pass laws requiring private companies to disclose the sources of raw materials they buy has undermined the impact of millions of euros invested in development, humanitarian and peacekeeping efforts in the Democratic Republic of Congo, reports EurActiv. Minerals smuggling is known to finance Congo’s arms trade, fuelling a cycle of conflict, poverty, fear and instability. |
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Credit: Enough |
Tax havens – resilient or on the decline?
A 10-article exposé accompanied by a cover-page editorial in this week’s The Economist highlights the trillions of illicit euros channeled through tax havens – and their “puzzling resilience” despite regulatory clampdowns. The report argues that while tax havens are facing serious threats, strong links with emerging economies present enticing opportunities.
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Credit: The Economist
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Will UN peacekeeping mission build resilience in Mali?
The humanitarian crisis in Mali persists because of what William Garvelink, former US ambassador to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, has called a "resilience deficit,” says Jeremy Konyndyk of Mercy Corps in the Guardian. Although donors are piloting resilience-oriented aid, most aid to Mali remains locked in humanitarian or development silos, he says. As preparations are underway for a UN peacekeeping mission, donors must shift gears.
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Credit:Flickr user Torbein
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