NEW YORK, August 13, 2026 – From August 3rd to 13th, the 5th session of negotiations for a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention) took place at the UN Headquarters in New York. 

“This session was a clear signal: countries are pushing us towards a more fair and equitable international tax system,” commented Dr. Dereje Alemayehu, Executive Coordinator of the Global Alliance for Tax Justice (GATJ), at the close of the 5th session. “The negotiations for a Framework Convention on tax get to the heart of the issues of our broken global tax rules: fairly sharing between countries the ability to tax multinational corporations, effectively taxing the rich, ensuring a transparent international tax system. The session saw strong engagement on these topics showing that the debate is open and moving forward. As civil society, we are calling for continued ambition as the negotiations progress.” 

The first week of the session covered the newly released zero draft Framework Convention, marking an important step towards addressing the core issues of the international tax system. The second week of negotiations covered the first and second early protocols, on taxation of digital services and dispute prevention and resolution, respectively. 

“What we saw these two weeks was a push by primarily Global South countries to tackle some of the most crucial issues preventing countries from addressing inequality and collecting tax revenues needed to fund public services, development, climate action, and gender equality. While many Global North countries showed less ambition, supporting a robust outcome is in their own interest to unlock urgently needed public finance,” shared Dr. Alemayehu on the state of play in the negotiations.

The next session of negotiations will take place from November 30 to December 11 in Nairobi. Before then, Member States will share their written comments on the text. An updated text will also be expected in the lead-up to Nairobi incorporating these comments as well as the feedback from this session.

“The process is moving forward quickly and we need countries to bring bold proposals which match the scale of the issue.” urged Dr. Alemayehu. 

Ends

Media Contact: Alexandra Wenzel, GATJ Global Communications and Campaigns Coordinator,  +41 77 813 37 32 (WhatsApp), [email protected]

Experts from GATJ’s Secretariat and regional networks Tax and Fiscal Justice Asia (TAFJA), Red de Justicia Fiscal de América Latina y el Caribe (RJFALC), Tax Justice Network Africa (TJNA), and Tax Justice Europe (TJ-E) attended the negotiations and are available to provide media comment and expert analysis. Find the list of experts here. 

For more information on the negotiations: 

• From 2025 to mid-2027 negotiations are taking place to develop a global tax treaty, a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UN Tax Convention). The negotiations were initiated by the Africa Group with the support of other Global South countries to address structural flaws in the international tax system, a system characterized by rampant tax abuse by multinational corporations and the rich, a complex web of thousands of bilateral tax treaties, and the exclusion of Global South countries from tax rule-making. These negotiations have been actively championed by GATJ for the potential to create fair and effective global tax rules, unlocking hundreds of billions in public financing urgently needed for development, public services, climate action, and gender equality. The mandate for the negotiations is here.
• More details on the 5th session of negotiations can be found on the UN website here.
• In the first week, governments discussed the recently released Co-Lead’s Zero Draft Framework Convention, available here. The second week of the session covered the first protocol on the taxation of income from cross-border services, with the draft here, as well as the draft second early protocol on the prevention and resolution of tax disputes, here. 
• Now, governments and stakeholders are invited to make submissions in reaction to the draft texts. GATJ, with its member Eurodad, brings together civil society to speak as a united voice in the negotiations and will be coordinating a joint submission.