Our analysis showed that more than a trillion dollars is syphoned from developing countries every year through shady deals, including the use of dodgy secretive firms. This often involves money laundering, corrupt deals for natural resources, drug trafficking and much more. If countries were able to crack down on these deals, recover the money, and tax it at normal rates, it could raise enough money to save an average of 3.6 million lives a year through spending on basic health systems.
Impact
The G20 agreed to complete a plan to combat tax avoidance by multinational companies, endorsed a global standard for the automatic exchange of tax information, and pledged to begin to exchange information with each other and with other countries. All of these have been implemented.
The G20 agreed to crack down on secret company ownership by implementing the G20 High-Level Principles on Beneficial Ownership Transparency.
What we did
- ONE released a video featuring a voiceover by actor Colin Farrell, who explained, with some help from a zombie, that anyone (even a dead person) can engage in the shady business practices that are helping to remove a trillion dollars every year from developing countries.
- We launched a campaign to get world leaders to put an end to it, calling for new transparency laws. The G20 Summit in Brisbane, Australia was the perfect opportunity for leaders to agree a way forward and crack-down on this scandal.
Inspired?
See some of our ongoing campaigns and learn more about how you can lend your voice to fight against extreme poverty.
