Illicit FInancial Flows and its impact on Women and Girls in Africa

Websitehttp://femnet.co/blog/

Globally, Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) are defined as the unrecorded and mostly untaxed illicit leakage of capital and resources out of a country. IFFs are mostly unrecorded because of deliberate misreporting. They are also associated with active attempts to hide their origin, destination, and true ownership; and often end up in secrecy jurisdictions (tax havens). Increasingly, Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs) is an issue that cannot be ignored by CSOs and policy makers because it has featured prominently in the SDGs, Financing for Development (FFD)3 and UNCTAD as a key financing issues that needs urgent redress mechanisms. FEMNET has also noted that women’s voices are minimal in policy discussions around trade, and resource allocation and mobilizing women to engage in the discourse on curbing IFFs has been a challenge.

Justification
Africa losses approximately 60 billion of US dollars each year through different types of Illicit Financial Flows which include commercial activities, lack of resources, tax evasion, tax avoidance, criminal activities, human trafficking, forced labor and corruption(AU IFF HLP, 2015 Report). The loss of revenue through IFFs negatively impacts on the ability of governments to invest in sectors that enhance equality such as education and health, which in turn hinders the women’s development agenda. FEMNET in partnership with Trust Africa, Hivos and Urgent Action Fund-Africa will host a side event at the margins of CSW61 to provide a platform for women from the African continent and across the world to discuss: “Illicit Financial Flows and its impact on women and girls in Africa”.

Overall goal
To strategically discuss IFFs and their gendered impact and implications on women and girls in Africa, and amplify the voice calling for actions to curb the Illicit Financial Flows.

Specific objectives:

To share information on gender and IFFs, specifically findings from FEMNET’s research paper on gender and Illicit Financial Flows, Gendered impact of cooperation’s on women workers and resourcing impacts and link with IFFs.
To provide a platform for dialogue with other organizations on how to effectively address this problem within the continent and globally
To strengthen mobilization, networking and partnership building among CSOs for building sustained localised, national, regional and global campaigns on Illicit Financial Flows

Target participants
Participation at the side event will be open to all African women and other organizations attending the 61st session of the UN commission on the status of women (CSW61) in New York. Key decision and policy makers, representatives of African government delegations and permanent missions, other women activist from other continents and representatives of international NGOs (INGOs) will also be invited to attend for shared learning. Virtually, you can join and engage/ follow conversations on twitter handle @FEMNETProg and hashtags: #CSW61Africa #CSW61 #StopTheBleeding add the hashtags of Trust Africa and Hivos

Mrs Emma Kaliya, Chairperson, FEMNET Board
Andrew Odete, Hivos East Africa
Caroline Kiarie, Urgent Action Fund-Africa
Crystal Simeoni, FEMNET

Moderator: Dinah Musindarwezo, FEMNET

For more information contact: Crystal Simeoni, Head of Advocacy, FEMNET: [email protected]

Check out Some Events to Watch out for at the CSW61- FEMNET, NGO CSW/Africa and some for our Members and Partners

Engage/ Follow conversations on: @FemnetProg and through the following hashtags: #TaxJustice I #CSW61Africa I #UNCSW61 I #StopTheBleeding