G20 ministers reject calls for climate justice (OneWorld.net)

LONDON, Feb 21 (OneWorld.net) - Proposals for a global financial transaction tax to help the development of poor countries affected by climate change have been ignored by the world's leading finance ministers.

The commitment of the French hosts to put this tax at the heart of the G20 agenda appears to have been lost in translation. The final communique of the meeting in Paris which concluded on Saturday was conspicuously silent on the subject.

The only consolation for the French was an expression of German support for a transaction tax together with news that the philanthropist, Bill Gates, has agreed to work with President Nicolas Sarkozy on innovative ways to raise funds for poor countries.

The idea of a tiny percentage tax on investment and currency transactions featured in the list of options for climate change financing submitted by a High-Level Advisory Group to the UN Secretary General in November 2010.

The levy is strongly supported by the international NGO movement. A global day of action across 25 countries was coordinated by Oxfam and other groups on the day before the start of the G20 meeting.

"This is the zeitgeist tax (which) would be like a breath of fresh air clearing away the stench of bankers' bonuses," said Luc Lempriere, executive director of Oxfam France.

European anti-poverty and climate change campaigners promote the concept as the Robin Hood tax. In the US, a national initiative has been sponsored by veteran Democrat Congressman, Pete Stark.

The introduction to Congress of his Investing in Our Future Act was timed to coincide with the global day of action.

The Act would impose a small fee on currency transactions in the United States, raising funds for a range of causes including mitigation of worldwide climate change. Over thirty US campaign groups have written to President Obama urging him to support the Act.

Global campaigners for a transaction tax have pinned great hopes on President Sarkozy as the champion of their cause. He is believed to hold the view that the financial sector benefited the most from the boom years whilst swallowing much of the resources committed to recovery when the bubble burst.

At a January press conference held at the Elysee Palace to mark the launch of the French presidency of the G20, Sarkozy said, "France considers this tax to be a moral reckoning for the financial crisis."

Expectations of foreign aid to support adaptation to climate change have been voiced in ethical terms long before the banking crisis broke in 2008. Developing countries are aggrieved that their economic growth prospects are undermined by the impact of global warming for which they are not responsible.

Shortly after the Sarkozy speech, this moral dimension of climate change was explored in a panel discussion at UN headquarters in New York. The debate on "Climate Finance: ethical considerations of scale, sources and governance" was organized by the UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service and the New York Office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation.

Whilst speakers were united in interpreting climate change as a "profound moral problem," they differed in locating the heart of the dilemma.

Angela Anderson, Program Director of the US Climate Action Network, felt that the most important ethical consideration is the human suffering amongst the poor that will be the consequence of failure to stabilize the climate.

A more philosophical stance was explored by Martin Lees, former secretary of the Club of Rome. "In gambling with the future of humanity….do we have the right to gratify desires now at the expense of future generations?" he asked, drawing attention to the non-linear risk posed by climate change.

The Ugandan chair of the Least Developed Countries Expert Group, Fred Onduri, prefers to address ethical considerations by straightforward reference to dollars. Rich countries have failed to deliver funding promises which are in any event insufficient to tackle the damage caused by climate change.

Mark Fulton of Deutsche Bank, a lone representative of the banking sector, sought to explain that, in the real world, the fiduciary obligations of financial managers compel them to conduct their business by reference to regulations as much as ethics.

He stressed that governments will not tamper with regulations unless they believe that voters demand change and that powerful vested interests can be set aside.

This proved to the position taken on Saturday by the finance ministers of the world's 20 most prosperous economies. They were disinclined to consider the ethics of global financial management.

A further moral examination is imminent. President Obama's 2012 budget presented to Congress last Monday includes a total of $1.3 billion for climate change finance to assist developing countries.

This is the third annual instalment of the promise of "fast start finance" negotiated by Obama at the Copenhagen climate conference in 2009.

The Republicans are in no mood to approve funding for foreign aid or climate change, let alone both. Will Congress honour this international commitment?

More Information:

Climate Finance: Ethical Considerations

from UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service

OneWorld Climate Change and Poverty Guide

* Bill Gunyon is Editor of OneWorld Guides

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Egypt's Corruption Probes: Justice or a Witch Hunt? (Time.com)

While most attention has focused on the origins of the wealth of Hosni Mubarak and his family, allegations of corruption run far deeper into Egyptian society - and pursuit of the charges may result not only in the punishment of cronies but also a wider witch hunt against businessmen that may stymie an economy that needs as much growth as possible.

More than 1,000 cases of corruption, lodged with the government in recent years but largely ignored, will now be opened, according to Gawdat al-Malt, the director of Egypt's Central Auditing Organization. The breadth of potential exposÉs is staggering, poking into virtually every corner of the economy from agriculture to the financial mess that state banks have bequeathed by way of sweetheart loans that will probably never be paid back. The investigations may eventually touch foreign investors, if not foreign governments, in particular the U.S. (See pictures of Hosni Mubarak.)

But some observers warn that the zeal to clean house may cause significant collateral damage. "It's an important step and it's a necessary process that the country needs to move forward," says Khairi Abaza, a former Egyptian politician who is currently a scholar at the Foundation for Defense of Democracies in Washington, D.C., "but I think they have opened a real Pandora's box by starting this process." "This is going to be a big deal and is part of the reason emotions are running very high now in Egypt," says an Egyptian-American academic who has asked not to be identified. "There was certainly serious, serious corruption, but one worries about it widening to include people who were fairly honest businessmen, and I fear it portends a kind of willingness to backtrack on some of the necessary economic reforms that got Egypt out of the command state and are in part responsible for some of the growth that have we have been seeing there. " (See what Egyptian billionaire Naguib Sawiris thinks of the new order.)

Stifled reforms and a return to some form of state socialism, Abaza says, could result from the merged interests a "resurgent left" and the military, which has never been keen on reforms. Paul Sullivan, an economics professor at National Defense University who taught in Cairo for six years, says, "My sense is that there could be extensive expropriations of assets of those found to be corrupt, but this may cause greater capital outflows and harm Egypt's abilities to attract foreign investments." Sullivan adds, "This is a peoples' rebellion, and they are looking for some way to tax those ill-gotten gains."

The importance of wasta, or connections, makes it difficult for investigators to know where to draw the line - especially if the purge against corruption is largely a continuation of the military's behind-the-scenes campaign against the regime faction led by Gamal Mubarak, the former President's son, whose economic-liberalization policies were tarred by extensive crony capitalism. "Anyone who has [lots of] money in Egypt had to deal with corruption, had to be involved in one way or another with a degree of corruption - because that's how the system functions," argues Abaza, who for a decade was associated with the long-established liberal political party Wafd. "This started in the last days of Mubarak, mainly to have a few scapegoats, but I think this process has gone a little bit out of hand, from a regime perspective." There are already long lines of people seeking to register complaints with the attorney general's office, and many observers say that a cascade effect will occur when those accused of corruption in turn expose others higher up in the food chain. (See a video of the celebration in Egypt.)

The business community is now frantically trying to reconnect with a new and still emerging hierarchy of power - and the efforts can be frustrating. Naguib Sawiris, one of the richest businessmen in Egypt, says he has stopped providing advice to the regime after being part of the committee that tried to mediate between the Mubarak regime and the opposition. He says the junta could clearly benefit from consulting with business leaders but adds wearily, "You know, they need to see that for themselves. It's not for me to tell them that." Sawiris does not fear for himself, despite alleged ties to Gamal Mubarak. (Sawiris also happened to bankroll the country's best independent newspaper and TV network, which both covered the protests extensively.) But at the same time, Sawiris says he is uneasy about the new zeal displayed by prosecutor general Abdel Meguid Mahmoud. "He did not take action [when the cases of corruption were brought up in the past]. Now he is taking action. How can I trust a man like that?"

Another potential result of the corruption probes: a chilling effect on business and economic reform. "The cause of economic reform in Egypt is over for a long time, maybe the next 10 years," says an Egyptian-American academic who prefers not to be named. "I mean, come on, how are you going to privatize now in this atmosphere? Forget about it - it's a dead letter." Instead, he foresees the government - even a democratically elected one - falling back on policies to try to guarantee full employment with an artificially boosted minimum wage, embracing the socialism that he points out has been around since the military first took power in 1952. "Liberty does not bring economic liberalization, but that's the price you have to pay in the short term." (Comment on this story.)

There may, however, be some military-imposed limits on prosecutions. Recent Egyptian government requests to foreign governments to freeze assets of high-placed former regime officials notably did not include any Mubarak family members. The logic there, says the anonymous academic, is that if the former President could be prosecuted, then high-ranking generals could be too. The top brass presides over a fount of military wealth, which includes control over huge swaths of public land, much of which was converted in recent years into malls, upscale housing and resorts.

While potential witch hunts concern many observers, Samer Shehata, a Georgetown University professor, says his principal concern is that the investigations go far enough and "not simply to placate public opinion momentarily." He says they should include not just the financially corrupt but also the most zealous regime defenders, particularly its chief propagandists in the state media. Says Shehata: "I think they certainly need to be held accountable [and] I just want to make sure that these investigations really are thorough, that they are unbiased and professional, fair and so on. But you have to remember, we have been dealing with a government that has not been the most efficient or transparent or credible for some time now."

See TIME's special report "The Middle East in Revolt."

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Duvalier foes seek justice for dictatorship abuses (AP)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – As a political prisoner in the 1970s at Haiti's most dreaded lockup, Claude Rosier sat in his squalid, crowded cell and dreamed of the day that tubby, boyish dictator Jean-Claude "Baby Doc" Duvalier would face justice.

The 79-year-old, who was starved and tortured in the notorious Fort Dimanche and other prisons for nearly 11 years during the 29-year Duvalier family dictatorship, said Friday he is hopeful that long-awaited day of reckoning may soon be at hand.

"All I hope to see with the Duvalier case is justice. Not just for me, but so history does not repeat itself in Haiti," Rosier said at a Port-au-Prince hotel, where he joined another ex-political prisoner and a human rights lawyer to speak about the prosecution of Haiti's former "president for life."

Just 19 when he assumed power after the death of his infamous father, Francois "Papa Doc" Duvalier, in 1971, Baby Doc's 15-year rule was marked by torture, extrajudicial executions and the disappearance of hundreds of people. The strict order was enforced by the feared Tonton Macoute secret police, which killed and extorted from countless Haitians.

Duvalier was deposed, put on an American plane and flown in 1986 to France, where he lived in quiet exile ever since — until he stunned the nation by abruptly showing up in his earthquake-shattered homeland last month. He claimed he wants to help with reconstruction, though some have speculated that he hoped returning might help him unlock millions of dollars frozen in Swiss bank accounts.

Whatever his motivation, the 59-year-old Duvalier now faces an investigation into allegations of corruption and human rights abuses dating to the dictatorship era, and a judge has until April to decide whether it will go to trial.

The complex case is part of a global push to hold former dictators accountable for atrocities during their reigns, said Human Rights Watch counsel Reed Brody, and it could break important new legal ground in Haiti, where the judiciary — like other institutions — is historically weak and ineffective.

"This case provides a real chance to put Haiti's justice system squarely on the side of those who have suffered under his rule," Brody said. "It will set a precedent and will be a civics lesson on a very dark period in Haiti's history.

"The trees need to be shaken to get people to come forward, even if people are still scared. But I think there's good evidence so far," Brody added. "And as far as we can tell, the political will is there. ... It's important that it be carried over into the next government" — a reference to the power transition that should take place in the coming months from Presidential Rene Preval to his yet-undetermined successor.

U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has offered to assist in the prosecution, saying the alleged crimes have no statute of limitations.

Duvalier has mostly stayed inside his guarded compound since returning and not commented on the accusations other to offer, in public comments last month, "my profound sadness toward my countrymen who consider themselves, rightly, to have been victims of my government."

One of his U.S. lawyers, Mike Puglise, said people are beginning to "voice their support" of Duvalier in Haiti. He pointed out that some residents of the seaside town of Leogane enthusiastically greeted Duvalier and his entourage during a visit this week.

"They understand that his return is what he said at the beginning, that he's trying to help his people," he said earlier this week.

A handful of loyalists campaigned for years to bring Duvalier back, launching a foundation to improve the dictatorship's image and reviving Baby Doc's political party.

Millions are too young to remember life under the dictatorship, and at least some Haitians hope that Duvalier could help restore order to the chaos. "Welcome, President Duvalier," read two separate graffiti scrawls in Port-au-Prince, though pro-Baby Doc demonstrations have been relatively small.

Bobby Duval, a former soccer star who was starved and tortured during 17 months without charge in Fort Dimanche, on the edge of the Port-au-Prince harbor, said Duvalier more rightly belongs behind bars.

"For myself, yes, I need closure. But a trial is really needed to bring light to all these victims who disappeared," Duval said. "There hasn't been a family in Haiti who hasn't been hurt by the Duvalier regimes, both father and son."

___

Associated Press writer Jacob Kushner contributed to this report.

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