National Press Club, Washington Illicit Financial Flows and Human Rights Thomas Pogge Leitner Professor of Philosophy and International Affairs, Yale 1 Persistent Optimism 2 World Poverty Today Among 7.3 billion human beings, about 795 million are chronically undernourished (SOFI Report 2015, pp. 4,8,10,17), >2000 million lack access to essential medicines (Nyanwura & Esena, “Essential Medicines Availability And Affordability”), 748 million lack safe drinking water (MDG Report 2014, p. 40), >1000 million lack adequate shelter (OHCHR, The Right to Adequate Housing 2014), >1200 million lack electricity (World Bank, http://go.worldbank.org/6ITD8WA1A0), 1800 million lack adequate sanitation (MDG Report 2014, p. 45), 781 million adults are illiterate (www.uis.unesco.org/literacy/Pages/literacy-data-release-2014.aspx), 168 million children (aged 5 to 17) do wage work outside their household — often under slavery-like and hazardous conditions: as soldiers, prostitutes or domestic servants, or in agriculture, construction, textile or carpet production (ILO: www.ilo.org/global/topics/child-labour/lang--en/index.htm). 3 At Least a Third of Human Deaths — some 18 (out of 57) million per year or 50,000 daily — are due to poverty-related causes, in thousands: diarrhea (2163) and malnutrition (487), perinatal (3180) and maternal conditions (527), childhood diseases (847 — half measles), tuberculosis (1464), meningitis (340), hepatitis (159), malaria (889) and other tropical diseases (152), respiratory infections (4259 — mainly pneumonia), HIV/AIDS (2040), sexually transmitted diseases (128). WHO: World Health Organization, Global Burden of Disease: 2004 Update, Geneva 2008, 4 Table A1, pp. 54-59. Millions of Deaths 450 Worldwide Poverty Deaths 1990-2015 World War Two 1939-45 60 Mao's Great Leap Forward 1959-62 30 Stalin's Repression 1924-53 20 World War One 1914-18 17 Russian Civil War 1917-22 9 Congo Free State 1886-1908 7.5 Korea and Vietnam 1951-54, 1965-74 5.5 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 350 4005 Income Shares of Global Population Segments 3rd ¼: 3.17% 4th ¼: 1.22% Next ¼: 10.64% Top 5%: 42.77% Next 20%: 42.20% Wealth Shares of Global Population Segments Other 99% 51% Richest 1% 49% Wealth Shares of Global Population Segments How many billionaires does it take to match the wealth of the poorer half of humanity? Poorest 50% 0.6% Rest 98.8% Richest 0.6% Wealth Shares of Global Population Segments How many billionaires does it take to match the wealth of the poorer half of humanity? Poorest 50% 0.6% Richest 0.0000009% 0.6% Rest 98.8% 66 Counter-Argument: Progress As the success of the Millennium Development Goals shows, the situation of the world’s poor is getting steadily better and better. 10 Year Undernourished … with “improved” in Millions (2011) methodology (2012) 1969–1971 878 1979–1981 853 1990–1992 843 1995–1997 788 2000–2002 833 2005–2007 848 2008 963 2009 1023 2010 925 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (www.fao.org) 11 Year Undernourished … with “improved” in Millions (2011) methodology (2012) 1969–1971 878 1979–1981 853 1990–1992 843 1000 1995–1997 788 2000–2002 833 2005–2007 848 2008 963 2009 1023 2010 925 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (www.fao.org) 12 Year Undernourished … with “improved” in Millions (2011) methodology (2012) 1969–1971 878 1979–1981 853 1990–1992 843 1000 1995–1997 788 2000–2002 833 2005–2007 848 2008 963 2009 1023 867 2010 925 868 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (www.fao.org) 13 Year Undernourished … with “improved” in Millions (2011) methodology (2012) 1969–1971 878 1979–1981 853 1990–1992 843 1000 1995–1997 788 931 2000–2002 833 922 2005–2007 848 884 2008 963 867 2009 1023 867 2010 925 868 UN Food and Agriculture Organization (www.fao.org) 14 Counter-Argument: Progress Global income polarization: much more would have been achieved if the poor had merely participated proportionally in global economic growth. In any case, what matters morally is the comparison with what would now be possible: How much of today’s severe poverty is reasonably avoidable through better supranational institutional design? 15 History Always, a majority of humankind has lived in severe poverty. New is the easy avoidability of poverty: the grotesque mismatch between the human and the economic extent of the world poverty problem. Fully one third of all human deaths and more than one third of all health deficits are poverty-related. Yet, what the poorer half of humanity need to avoid severe poverty is merely an extra two percent of global household income. Avoidable poverty has never been greater. 16 Explanation Rich and powerful persons, companies and governments make successful efforts to shape in their own favor the important economic, social and political rules, on both the national and supranational levels, as well as the application of these rules (“lobbying”). Insofar as they succeed, they increase their share of income, wealth and political power and thereby become even more capable of influencing in their own favor the rules and their application. 17 Corporate Tax Abuse (GFI Estimates) 2003-12 decade: $6.6 trillion 2012: $1.0 trillion of GDP of developing countries: 3.9% of GDP in Africa: 5.5% 2012 official development aid: $0.127 trillion 18 Private Financial Wealth Kept Abroad Africa and the Middle East: 31% Latin America: 28% Europe: 8% North America: 2% 19 Loss in Tax Revenues (Christian Aid) $160 billion per annum, $2.5 trillion 2000-2015. “If that money was available to allocate according to current spending patterns, the amount going into health services could save the lives of 350,000 children under the age of five every year.” 20