Woeld Social Forum

World Social Forum
London International Model United Nations

21st Session | 2020
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London International
World Social Forum Model United Nations 2020
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Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION LETTER 4
Introduction to the Committee 9
TOPIC A: Disarm Finance and Achieve Tax Justice 11
Introduction 12
Definitions 14
Timeline of Events 15
Discussion of the Problem 17
Block Positions: 26
Conclusion: 27
Questions a Resolution should answer : 28
Further Reading 29
Bibliography 30
TOPIC B: Migration and International Mobility 33
Introduction 34
Definitions 35
Timeline of Events 36
Discussion of the problem: 37
Block Positions: 42
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Conclusion 46
Questions a Resolution should answer: 46
Bibliography 49
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INTRODUCTION
LETTER
Dear Delegates,
The Chairing Team welcomes you to the World Social Forum at LIMUN
2020! We, Rigel, Monika, Michael and Annika are looking forward to working
together with you closely to ensure that everyone will have the best LIMUN
experience possible.
The World Social Forum is an annual meeting of civil organizations and can
be considered the central forum for the global civil society. World Social
Forum defines itself as "an opened space – plural, diverse, non-
governmental and non-partisan – that stimulates the decentralized debate
[…] among movements and organizations engaged in concrete actions
towards a more solidarity, democratic and fair world”. It can be viewed as
a rival event to the World Economic Forum's Annual Meeting
in Davos, Switzerland and takes place at the same time in January to
promote alternative answers to world economic problems in opposition to
the WEF.
Embracing the non-formal spirit of the World Social Forum, we are going to
adopt an interactive committee structure which will diverge slightly from
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the standard MUN procedure. The process is described in detail in the study
guide, please go through it carefully and familiarize yourself with the
structure as well as the topics. We recommend for you to research further
using the recommended readings and additional resources to be prepared
for the debate to your best ability. Preparation will ensure that we all have
an engaging, inspiring and rewarding experience!
Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions leading up

to the conference.
We are looking forward to working with you and wish you best of luck in
your preparations!
Michael, Monika, Rigel and Annika
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Director – Annika Stechenmesser
Hello everyone! My name is Annika and I am honoured to welcome you to

this committee as your director. Chairing the World Social Forum will be a
unique opportunity for me, and I am very excited to embark on this journey
with you as delegates and my wonderful assistant chairs of course!
I am 25 years old and from Germany, however I have also lived in the UK
for three years. I studied maths for my undergraduate and postgrad
degrees and recently started my PhD in Climate Science, where I now use
mathematical methods to answer questions concerning climate change and
the economy and society. I have been a delegate at LIMUN for the past two
years and had an absolutely amazing experience!
As a chair, I now want to give back to the LIMUN community and can’t wait
to meet you all! I’m looking forward to a respectful but thought-provoking
debate!
All the best,
Annika
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Assistant Director – Rigel R. Gomez

Hello! I’m Rigel and I am excited to welcome you to LIMUN 2020 as one
of your assistant directors. I have chaired in several MUNs around Europe
and Asia over the past few years. I studied Chemical Engineering and
Business Administration and am one of the first government certified
Naturopathic practitioners in the Philippines. While I do R&D on the side
with one of my start-ups, I also host and direct some radio programs. I
also chaired LIMUN last year and it was great way to celebrate my
birthday. I love to try out new food and drinks, as well as other fun and
interesting experiences. I also love random reading and videogaming
when I have free time. I can’t wait to meet all of you this coming LIMUN
and I look forward to an exciting and competitive debate.
Assistant Director - Michael Bornholdt

Hello everyone, my name is Michael and looking forward meeting all of
you in London!
I grew up in the north of Germany and have and have studied Physics and
applied Maths at the University of Hamburg, Imperial College London and
now at the Technical University of Munich. I enjoy organizing conferences
for student organizations, doing sports and I am also a big card game
nerd! I know you will thoroughly enjoy LIMUN as I have attended past
conferences as a delegate and know that this years’ secretariat is doing
an awesome job – see you there!
Assistant Director – Monika Patriarchea
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Hello! My name is Monika and I will be one of the Assistant Directors of
this committee! I am originally from Greece and currently studying at
King’s College London as an Erasmus Student from SciencesPo Paris. I’ve
been doing MUN for a while so as you can guess I am a big MUN nerd. I
am really looking forward to LIMUN and to meeting each and every one of
you! I am sure we’ll have the best committee in and out of the sessions!
See you very soon!
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Introduction to the Committee
“Another world is possible”, under this motto thousands of activists
assemble each year at the World Social Forum. The aim of this large-scale
international meeting of civil society is to find creative and alternative
solutions to the problems of our time, covering a topic range from social
equality to non-capitalistic economy approaches to environmental
concerns and human right disputes. Other than a formal debate, the
World Social Forum (WSF) is meant to encourage thinking and acting
outside the box. Participants share their opinion and develop ideas in a
series of workshops, conferences, artistic performances, protests and
many other creative formats.
The first World Social Forum was held in Porto Alegre, Brazil in January
2001. In an Interview1 with the InMotion Magazine Oded Grajew, one of
the WSF founders, explained how the idea was born. A businessman
himself, he felt strongly about the social responsibilities that companies
have. After unsuccessfully trying to change the agenda of the World
Economic Forum in order to incorporate more social aspects, he decided
to found a counter movement which grew to become the WSF. In the first
year 60.000 people from 120 countries and 200 organisations
participated.
In this formative year, the WSF also drew up the World Social Forum
Charter of Principles2 which created a framework for the continued
success of the event. The Charter clearly outlines the core values which
drive the WSF and its participants: pluralism, democracy, socialism and
international collaboration. The UN acknowledges the World Social Forum
as an important player in international cooperation and recognizes its
1 https://inmotionmagazine.com/global/ogwsf_int.html
2 https://fsmm2018.org/world-social-forum-charter-principles/?lang=en
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special capacity for building links between civil society and political
decision makers3. A UNESCO delegation participates in the WSF to
strengthen the ties to the UN.
Since 2001 the WSF experienced a political activation. While in the first
years the discussions were mostly defensive and criticising the
globalisation development4, the WSF has grown considerably and led to
several achievements such as the creation of the Internet Social Forum5
and countless proposals ranging from reforming the UN to solving
external debt, water, the fight against poverty.
3 https://wayback.archive-it.org/10611/20161101094010/http://portal.unesco.org/shs/en/ev.php-
URL_ID=7360&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
4 https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/174/30722.html
5 Katsiaficas, George. "The World Social Forum and the Internet Social Forum". Sri Lanka Guardian. Sri Lanka
Guardian. Retrieved 3 April 2016.
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TOPIC A: Disarm Finance

and Achieve Tax Justice
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Introduction
Taxes are arguably the most important source of government revenue
because they combine three critical functions: the generation of
government revenue for the realization of rights, achieving equality and
tackling discrimination and strengthening governance and accountability.
Higher and more stable government revenues result in increased
sustainable investment in public services, infrastructure and other
developmental needs and improve the competitiveness of economies over
the long term. Therefore, tax is a critical tool for both tackling inequality
and realizing human rights.
However, some countries struggle to collect sufficient tax revenues.

Domestic resource mobilization (i.e. the generation of savings from
domestic resources and their allocation to economically and socially
productive investments) can be hampered by inadequate global tax
standards, race-to-the-bottom tax competition or the lack of financial
transparency. For example, developing countries often do not adequately
benefit from the extraction of their natural resources in parts due to lack of
transparency, regulation and fair and effective taxation.
Regressive fiscal and tax policies being pursued in countries from the global
North and South pose a serious threat to the economic and social rights of
already disadvantaged groups. In terms of individual income and wealth, a
regressive tax imposes a greater burden on the less wealthy. Such basic
injustice can fuel deeper economic, gender, and political inequalities, and
erode trust in government institutions.
Thus, tax policy is public policy and cannot be left to the unaccountable
discretion of governments. The goal of the WSF is to use tax laws, policies
and practices to end structural discrimination rather than to entrench
inequalities. It wants to work with governments to implement tax policy to
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the highest standards of transparency, public participation, and meaningful
accountability in line with human rights principles.
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Definitions
Gender-responsive budgeting:
Gender-responsive budgeting ensures gender-equitable distribution of
resources. It involves analysing government budgets for their effect on
genders and the norms and roles associated with them. It also involves
transforming these budgets to ensure that gender equality commitments
are realized. (https://policy-practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/a-guide-
to-gender-responsive-budgeting-620429)
Race-to-the-bottom:
The race to the bottom describes deregulation of the business environment
or reduction in tax rates in order to attract economic activity in their
country/region.
C.W. (27 November 2013). "Racing to the bottom". The Economist.
Retrieved 15 March 2016
Regressive fiscal policies:

Tax levied at a rate that decreases as its base increases. "Regressive"
describes a distribution effect on income or expenditure, referring to the
way the rate progresses from high to low, so that the average tax
rate exceeds the marginal tax rate. (Britannica Concise Encyclopaedia: )
Tax:
Following the OECD classification, the term “taxes” is confined to
compulsory, unrequited payments to general government. Taxes are
unrequited in the sense that benefits provided by government to taxpayers
are not normally in proportion to their payments.
(https://www.oecd.org/daf/mai/pdf/eg2/eg2963e.pdf)
Tax evasion and Tax avoidance
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Tax avoidance is the legitimate minimisation of taxes, using methods
included in the tax code.
Tax haven:
While there is no formal definition of a tax haven, we understand a tax
haven as a place which provides facilities that enable people or entities
escape (and frequently undermine) the laws, rules and regulations of other
jurisdictions elsewhere, using secrecy as a prime tool. Those rules include
tax – but also criminal laws, disclosure rules (transparency,) financial
regulation, inheritance rules, and more.
(https://www.taxjustice.net/faq/tax-havens/)
Tax justice:
Tax justice has many different definitions but was first defined by Adam
Smith in 1776 as a system in which “the subjects of every state ought to
contribute towards the support of the government, as nearly as possible,
in proportion to their respective abilities.”
Tax shifting:
Passing the tax burden form one economic agent to another.
Timeline of Events
2004 - Creation of the UN Tax committee

In its resolution 2004/69, ECOSOC decided to rename the Ad Hoc Group of
Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters the Committee of
Experts on International Cooperation in Tax Matters with a mandate to keep
under review and update as necessary the UN Model Double Taxation
Convention between Developed and Developing Countries and the Manual
for the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and
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Developing Countries. (https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/tax-committee/about-
committee-tax-experts.html)
2008 - Financial crisis

The financial crisis of 2007 and 2008 was a severe worldwide economic
crisis considered by many to have been the most serious financial
crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s.
It began in 2007 with mortgage crisis in the United States and then
developed into an international banking crisis with, most notably, the
collapse of the Lehman Brothers bank. The European debt crisis, a crisis in
the banking system of the European countries using the euro, followed
shortly after.
2013 –2016 - Tax haven scandals

The most recent and partly ongoing tax haven scandals include the
Offshore leaks of 2013, the LuxLeaks of 2014, the Swiss Leaks of
2015 and - most notably - the Panama Papers of 2016. All include some
kind of forthcoming of illegal purposes through offshore business entities or
other methods. The Panama Papers for example, contain 11.5
million leaked documents which detail financial and attorney–client
information of wealthy individuals showing illegal tax operations.
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Discussion of the Problem
Tax and human rights

Tax systems are important fiscal tools for directing the processes of
economic growth and are used to redistribute wealth and encourage socially
acceptable behaviour by re-pricing certain goods and services (e.g. excises
on cigarettes and alcohol). Mobilising public domestic resources through
tax revenue is becoming increasingly difficult in a context marked by
extreme tax competition to attract corporate investments, austerity
measures and illicit financial flows. Tax abuses, tax evasion and the weight
of debt payments from developing to developed countries reduces revenue
available to national governments for development and fulfilment of human
rights, including women’s rights. A recent study conducted by Eurodad 6
found that developing countries are losing twice the amount of money they
earn because of issues like tax evasion, profits taken out by foreign
investors and interest repayments on debt.
6 https://eurodad.org/files/pdf/5492c1109c4c6.pdf
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Responses to the financial crisis in 2008 highlight the catastrophic and
inequitable impacts of austerity measures, including those of fiscal policy
aiming to lower public expenditure, on the poorest and most vulnerable.
Cuts in vital social protection sectors such as health care, education,
unemployment insurance, pensions, care systems have undermined the
lives of people and signify a regression and neglect in the fulfilment of
human rights.
Governments could establish robust mechanisms for taxing the corporate

sector and reforming the financial structure through progressive
redistributive measures. For example, incorporating financial transaction
taxes which, according to estimates, could raise as much as $650 billion
and at the same time regulate markets that tend to have a destabilising
trading practice. Taxing the rich 1%, though crucial to raise revenues, still
only addresses the consequences of inequality - one may argue - not the
root causes that enabled concentration of wealth in hands of the few to
occur in the first place.
In summary, strengthening the role of human rights frameworks in fiscal

policy decision-making is key. Human right instruments and mechanisms
should be the basis for ethical and accountability frameworks, challenging
the current narrow focus on efficiency and growth that has only taken us
to the dismantling of social protection floors with dire consequences for
human rights.
Tax & Gender Equality

Tax systems are not gender neutral. Explicit tax gender biases arise from
specific laws or regulations that explicitly treat men and women differently.
Implicit biases are indirect effects that the tax law might have on the
wellbeing of people of a specific gender.
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In fact, many tax systems hinge on certain concepts and inequitable
assumptions that are themselves gendered (e.g. male breadwinners).
These assumptions tend to put women at a disadvantage reinforcing
stereotypes about women’s income being secondary to that of the male and
does not recognize nor help to distribute unpaid care work which women
take on disproportionally often. Decrease in government revenues often
leads to cuts in social expenditure in key areas such as health, education,
public jobs, care work, with disproportionate impact on women who often
shoulder a greater unpaid care burden. Current trends in tax reform
indicate a big shift away from taxing income to taxing consumption,
through value-added taxes, which is significant given gendered
consumption patterns – i.e. women take care of a larger proportion of
household expenditure and thus the extent to which the value-added tax
(VAT) is applied to basic consumption goods such as food affects women
disproportionately. Policy makers should carefully consider the set of goods
and services that should be domestically zero-rated or exempted.
Poorly designed fiscal policies undermine progress towards gender equality.

But policy makers are yet to make the clear connection, even with
increasing concerns that tax systems are biased against women, and that
contemporary tax reforms may increase the incidence of taxation on the
poorest women while failing to generate enough revenue to fund the
programmes needed to improve these women’s lives.
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Tax & Climate Action

The global climate crisis is one of the most pressing topics in world politics
and one of the biggest challenges' humanity is facing. Experts agree that
to achieve the goals of the Paris agreement (“holding the increase in the
global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels
and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-
industrial levels”) it is necessary that global emissions peak by the year
2020 at latest. This requires a radical global decarbonization process to
reduce emissions. Carbon tax is a core policy for reducing and eventually
eliminating the use of fossil fuels. It describes the process of taking a fee
for burning carbon-based fuels (gas, oil, coal). Studies have shown that
pricing CO2 would not only set a strong incentive to lower emissions but
also generate the necessary revenues governments need to invest in
sustainable infrastructure which will lead to a substantial and long-lasting
increase of public welfare. However, the implementation of a carbon tax
has multiple challenges.
1. Carbon taxing and social equity
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Carbon taxation can have a profound impact on people’s everyday life
and touches areas of basic human and societal needs such as access to
electricity, transportation and space heating. If comparing high-income
households to low- and middle-income households, the latter spend a
proportionally higher share of their income on basic necessities. In 2014
for example, the wealthiest 20% of U.S. household spent 2.7% of their
after-tax income while the percentage for the bottom 20% was four
times as high (10.8%)7. Without tax-shifting or dividends a carbon tax
would have disproportionate impacts on lower-income families.
Consequences of such policy making can for example be observed in
France where the Yellow-Vest movement was initiated due to rising fuel
prices in October 2018. The escalation of the demonstrations led to
injuries and fatalities. A similar situation could be observed in Ecuador
in 2019 were the public reacted with riots to austerity measures that
included the cancellation of fuel subsidies. This illustrates that
implementing carbon taxation as a social policy is crucial for national
security and public wellbeing.
2. Carbon taxing and international trade

Carbon taxing is conducted on a national level and therefore presents a
national solution to a global problem. On the free market, international
differences in carbon control could cause two issues: carbon leakage and
competitiveness disadvantages.
Carbon leakage describes the process of business transferring
production to other countries with laxer emission constraints to avoid
the costs of carbon taxation. This would not only lead to governments
missing out on revenues expected from carbon taxation but also create
a new type of carbon havens and potentially lead to an overall increase
in emissions due to increased transportation. This issue stresses the
7 https://www.carbontax.org/ensuring-equity/
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need for international cooperation on the issue of carbon taxation.
However, if in an energy-intensive sector comply with the stricter
national carbon taxation policies they might have a competitiveness
disadvantage on the global market which could substantially damage
national economies. A possible tool to combat this issue are border
carbon adjustments, which are a key part of the “European Green Deal”
the recently elected new EU commission president is working on. Border
carbon adjustments describe the process of imposing a fee on any
product imported from a country without a carbon pricing plan. The price
of the imported goods could then be controlled in a way that ensures
competitiveness of domestic products. However, designing such an
adjustment tool poses serious challenges: The design would need to be
technical feasible, the necessary data would have to be collected and
available, the possible implied exclusion of developing countries from
international trade would have to be avoided and compatibility within
the World Trade Organisation legal framework would have to be
achieved. So far there is no feasible suggestion for carbon border
adjustments.
3. Alternatives to Carbon taxing

Alternative ways of CO2 pricing are so called cap-and-trade systems. In
a cap-and-trade-system one would set a maximum level of pollution (the
cap) and distribute emission permits among businesses. Companies
would need a permit to cover all the emissions they produce which could
be obtained either through allocation or through auctions. Alternatively,
they could buy permits from other companies. Due to the constraint of
the cap, the permit price would fluctuate with supply and demand.
Ideally, such a system would have the same impact on emissions as a
carbon tax. However, there is a lot of criticism concerning the cap-and-
trade approach, including concerns about implementation, transparency
and security.
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Summary map of existing, emerging and potential regional, national and

subnational carbon pricing initiatives (ETS and tax)
Tax justice in the Word Social Forum
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Tax justice has been a central topic at the World Social Forum in many
years. One of the main goals is to inhibit tax dodging by multinationals and
wealthy individuals, to replace race-to-the-bottom tax competition by
multilateral tax cooperation and to make governments raise revenue
through redistributive and progressive taxation. This can be done by having
transparent, country by country tax reporting of all multinational
companies, automating tax information exchange between jurisdictions and
by ending the existence of tax havens. Additionally, sectors such as the
finance sector should be heavily regulated through for example a financial
transaction tax.
Taxing the rich 1% is another mean of tax equality, though crucial to raise
revenues, still only addresses the consequences of inequality - one may
argue - not the root causes that enabled concentration of wealth in hands
of the few to occur in the first place. A strategy to reduce inequality would
be a shift from indirect taxes to direct taxes which would serve as a more
progressive and equitable system of taxation. Many in the WSF also call for
greater international tax cooperation, something that could be achieved by
upgrading the UN Tax Committee so that governments can coordinate
national taxation regimes to ensure corporate tax rates deal with trade
mispricing and other tactics used by multinational corporations to avoid
paying taxes.
Listed below are years in which WSF declarations concerning tax were
published. For this committee, these WSF declarations can serve as
examples for potential committee resolutions. Please be aware that the
declarations listed here do not compose a full list of WSF declarations on
this topic.
WSF 2013:
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In 2013 the World Social Forum held in Tunis adopted a declaration titled
“Tax Justice for Social Justice” in which the WSF committed itself to a
continued strong advocacy to influence policy-makers to strive for tax
justice and to further push for a global social movement to end tax dodging.
Furthermore, the Global Alliance on Tax Justice was founded which remains
one of the strongest networks for global tax justice until today.
(http://www.world-
psi.org/sites/default/files/documents/research/declaration_on_tax_justice
_at_the_wsf_in_tunis-4.pdf)
WSF 2015: Declaration “Tax justice to end inequality”

(https://eurodad.org/files/pdf/551bebd39bcc7.pdf)
WSF 2016: Declaration “Disarm Finance and Achieve Tax Justice”.

(https://www.globaltaxjustice.org/en/blog/disarm-finance-achieve-tax-
justice-world-social-forum-2016-declaration)
Some of these issues have been acknowledged and addressed by the G20
which in response requested the OECD to find solutions to the under-
taxation of TNEs in an increasingly digitalised economy.
The OECD tax reform

In October of 2019, the OECD Secretariat published its proposed ‘unified
approach’ which should reform international tax rules to address tax
challenges posed by digitalisation of the world. The proposal aims to ensure
that highly profitable large transnational enterprises (TNEs) pay tax in the
country in which they generate profits from significant activities.
Although tasked with the most dramatic change to century-old international

tax rules, the OECD proposal has been criticised for only tinkering at the
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margins. According to the TJN, the biggest winners of the reform will be
developed economies (such as US, UK, Germany, France) and large
developing economies (like China and India) whereas small economies,
particularly the small developing economies where the TNEs locate their
production, will lose out. Since the proposal is limited to ‘consumer-facing’
businesses with some carve-outs yet to be decided, pure ‘business to
business’ (B2B) transactions and extractive industries are fully excluded.
On the bright side, the Independent Commission for the Reform of

International Corporate Taxation (ICRICT) appreciates the intention to
stem the ‘race to the bottom’ due to tax competition by providing a floor
with a global minimum corporate tax.
Overall, the WSF calls for a greater tax transparency to inform discussion
of such reforms. Currently publicly available data on TNEs’ country-by-
country reporting fall short of what is needed by countries to be able to
assess the likely impacts of the proposal.
Block Positions:
The different positions and opinions in the WSF may not be as clearly cut
as in other committees due to the high diversity in NGOs and countries.
For countries, however, there will be a clearer divide between those who
have less restrictive tax policies regarding large companies and those who
feel like they are the direct victims of tax haven regions.
It is a much-debated question in the WSF what reforms of international tax
alliances would have the largest improvement and since convincing the
international community of all methods described above (minimal tax
boundaries, consumer facing tax, financial transaction taxes, etc.) will be
highly unlikely delegates will need to concentrate on a core package.
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Furthermore, the NGOs within the WSF have different priorities when it
comes to the what most daunting challenges the world is facing. Some may
prefer to concentrate on climate justice and climate sustainability while
other will focus on gender equality or fighting financial inequality. While
solving all these issues at once would be optimal it may be impossible to
do so in the limited time that the committee has.
Conclusion:
On the last pages we have displayed why the World Social Forum is a
diverse and interesting space for those who want to make the world a better
place. It is arguably the most bottom-up body of the international space
and thus plays a special role in the development of our world order.
We have also seen how taxation is a crucial part of governance and that -
if done incorrectly – leads to stark inequalities. Apart from the apparent
financial disadvantage, bad taxation policies can create inequalities in
human right, gender equality, climate action and injustice between
countries themselves.
Some slow progress has been done to inhibit and resolve these tax
inequalities, but a comprehensive reform still seems far away. Only a clear,
strong and united WSF can have an impact on the international community
change the status quo.
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Questions a Resolution should answer :
 How can progressive tax policies help tackle inequality within

countries?
 What are fair international tax rules that make it impossible for
multinational companies to avoid taxes?
 How can a CO2 pricing system be implemented that support net-zero-

emissions by 2050 while at the same time promoting equality and
avoiding carbon leakages?
Embracing the inspiring and creative style of the world social forum, we will
adapt the workings of this committee while still operating under the usual
LIMUN 2020 ROPs. In the following section we will explain the workings of
this committee in more detail, please don’t hesitate to send questions to
your chairing team at wsf@limun.org.uk if you experience any unclarities.
1. Participants of the LIMUN WSF 2020

The committee will be composed of delegates representing countries as
well as of delegates representing Non-Governmental-Organisations
(NGOs). Countries and NGOs will be entirely equal in this committee and
also have equal voting rights. This mixed allocation reflects the diversity
of stakeholders at the WSF.
2. Aim of the committee

The aim of the committee is to pass a draft resolution which we will in
our context refer to as a WSF declaration, as the WSF is not an official
UN body. WSF declarations do not necessarily have to be written in draft
resolution format, the acceptance of more creative formats will be up to
discretion of the chairs. It is possible to submit both a declaration in
draft resolution format and a creative piece, the chairs encourage this.
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The introduction of working papers and draft resolutions can happen as
a creative process (for example a presentation, video etc, interactive
session etc.). Inappropriate or offensive presentations will be ruled
dilatory.
The declarations should propose concrete solutions to the questions

posed in this section. As the World Social Forum itself is not political,
specific measures proposed in the declaration should be addressed to
specific UN bodies or organisations that can ensure their
implementation.
Further Reading
Background reading on tax havens:

https://projekte.sueddeutsche.de/paradisepapers/wirtschaft/tax-havens-
fuel-inequality-e168550/
Background reading on taxation and gender equality:
https://www.oecd.org/dac/gender-development/44896295.pdf
Background reading on the global climate crises and the need for emission
reduction:
https://mission2020.global/climate-turning-point/
Background reading on the new green deal:
https://www.gp.org/green_new_deal
Background reading on the lima declaration on tax justice and human
rights:
https://www.cesr.org/endorse-lima-declaration-tax-justice-and-human-
rights
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Bibliography
• OECD. (2009, December 14) TAXATION AND AID FOR DOMESTIC

RESOURCE MOBILIZATION (D.R.M.) AID: HELPING OR HARMING
DOMESTIC RESOURCE MOBILIZATION IN AFRICA ,
https://www.oecd.org/site/devaeo10/44272298.pdf
• Allan, B. B. ( 2019, October 23) The E.U.’s looking at a ‘carbon
border tax.’ What’s a carbon border tax? The Washington Post
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/10/23/eus-
looking-carbon-border-tax-whats-carbon-border-tax/
• Paget-Clarke, N. (2004, September 1) “Another World Is
Possible” In Motion Magazine
https://inmotionmagazine.com/global/ogwsf_int.html
• Soulard, F. (2017, September 19) World Social Forum Charter of
Principles FSMM2018 https://fsmm2018.org/world-social-forum-
charter-principles/?lang=en
• C.W. (2013, November 27). "Racing to the bottom". The
Economist. Retrieved 15 March 2016
• Wallerstein, I. ( 2007, February 1) The Wrold Social Forum:
From Defense to Offense Agence Global
https://www.globalpolicy.org/component/content/article/174/30
722.html
• Katsiaficas, G. (2016, April 3) "The World Social Forum and the
Internet Social Forum". Sri Lanka Guardian.
http://www.slguardian.org/2015/04/the-world-social-forum-and-
the-internet-social-forum/ Sri Lanka Guardian.
• Stephenson, M.A. (2018, February 28) A guide to Gender-
Responsive Budgeting OXFAM https://policy-
practice.oxfam.org.uk/publications/a-guide-to-gender-
responsive-budgeting-620429
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• Expert group no. 3 (1996) Negotiating group on the Multilateral
Agreement on Investment (MAI) Definition of Taxes (Note by the
Chairman) OECD
https://www.oecd.org/daf/mai/pdf/eg2/eg2963e.pdf
• Tax Justice Network (2020) Tax Havens TJN
https://www.taxjustice.net/faq/tax-havens/
• Rahmstorf, S. Levermann, A. (2017) Why global emissions must
peak by 2020 Real Climate
http://www.realclimate.org/index.php/archives/2017/06/why-
global-emissions-must-peak-by-2020/
• Eurodad (2020) Toolkit for the media, The State of Finance for
Developing Countries, 2014 Eurodad
(https://eurodad.org/files/pdf/5492c1109c4c6.pdf)
• United Nations (2011) UN Model Double Taxation Convention
between Developed and Developing Countries and the Manual for
the Negotiation of Bilateral Tax Treaties between Developed and
Developing Countries. UN https://www.un.org/esa/ffd/tax-
committee/about-committee-tax-experts.html
• Postdam institute for climate impact research (2015) How
finance ministers could fall in love with carbon pricing PIK
https://www.pik-potsdam.de/news/press-releases/how-finance-
ministers-could-fall-in-love-with-carbon-pricing
• Rocchi, P., Serrano, M., Roca, J., Arto, I., (2018) Border Carbon
Adjustments based on Avoided Emissions: Addressing the
Challenge of Its Design EU Science Hub
(https://ec.europa.eu/jrc/en/publication/border-carbon-
adjustments-based-avoided-emissions-addressing-challenge-its-
design)
• World Social Forum (WSF) (2013) Tax Justice for Social Justice:
World Social Forum 2013 Declaration WSF 2013
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http://www.world-
psi.org/sites/default/files/documents/research/declaration_on_ta
x_justice_at_the_wsf_in_tunis-4.pdf
• WSF (2015) Declaration “Tax justice to end inequality”
(https://eurodad.org/files/pdf/551bebd39bcc7.pdf)
• WSF (2016) Declaration “Disarm Finance and Achieve Tax
Justice”. (https://www.globaltaxjustice.org/en/blog/disarm-
finance-achieve-tax-justice-world-social-forum-2016-declaration)
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TOPIC B: Migration and

International Mobility
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Introduction
Millions of people travel around the world every month for a wide variety
of reasons. Demand for transport is expected to increase dramatically, with
annual air passenger traffic expected to grow by 50% and global freight
volume by 75%8 However, the opportunity to travel, trade and explore is
not open to all. For example, more than 1 billion people in low-income
countries do not have access to an all-weather road.
These examples illustrate the dual role that transport could play in the
future: It is both an opportunity and a threat. Sustainable and accessible
transport could improve the lives of billions of people, foster international
relations and innovation, and help mitigate climate change. However,
transport can also be a root cause of gross inequalities, pollution and
accidents. The international community must address the fairness,
efficiency, safety and environmental impact of mobility. To this end, the
Wold Bank has founded the "Sum4All" (Sustainable Mobility for All) project,
which addresses these issues in an international framework.
People from all backgrounds migrate for work, studies or to join family and
countries compete for best-qualified employees from all around the world.
In 2019 the number of people residing in a country different to their birth
country reached 272 million9. Large-scale movements of refugees affect
all countries of the world and require international collaboration on a
number of questions. How can labour rights for migrants be strengthened?
How can migration data be collected more efficiently to enable evidence-
based policies? How can migration benefit individuals as well as
communities and whole countries?
8 https://sum4all.org/the-global-mobility-system-today
9 https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/migration/index.html
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In 2018 the World Social Forum on Migrations took place in Mexico to
discuss these questions. The organizer summarized the efforts in one
sentence: “We believe that we are at the threshold of a new stage of
migration. Where before the question centred around perceptions of
migratory phenomena and expanding recognition of human mobility based
on a relatively open multilateral environment, now we must come up with
new conceptual models for global stability and a form of globalization that
responds to the needs of a radically interdependent world”10.
Definitions
Migrant:
The UN Migration Agency (IOM) defines a migrant as any person who is
moving or has moved across an international border or within a State away
from his/her habitual place of residence, regardless of (1) the person’s legal
status; (2) whether the movement is voluntary or involuntary; (3) what
the causes for the movement are; or (4) what the length of the stay is.
Internal Migration: moving within a state, country or continent.

External Migration: moving to a different state, country or continent.
Emigration: leaving one country to move to another
Immigration: moving to a new country
Seasonal Migration: moving with each season or in response to labour or
climate conditions.
Mobility: the ability to move or be moved freely and easily. In this
committee, the term will refer to the transport of people and goods.
10 https://fsmm2018.org/8th-world-social-forum-migrations-mexico-2018/?lang=en
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Timeline of Events
2015 – Adoption of the 17 Sustainability Goals by the UN member
states
The 2030 agenda for sustainable development for the first time recognizes
the contribution of migration to sustainable development.
2015 – COP 21 Paris

The UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon calls for a coherent vision for
transport.
2016 – Climate Action Summit (Washington DC)

Concept of Sustainable Mobility for All (Sum4All) accepted.
2017 – UN Resolution on International Migration and Development

Adopted by the General Assembly, stresses the need to deepen the
interaction between Governments and civil society in order to find
responses to the challenges and the opportunities posed by international
migration.11
2017 – ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the

Rights of Migrant Workers signed in Manila
First step for establishing a framework for cooperation on migrant workers
in the region and contribute to the ASEAN Community building process.
2019 – Launch of the Global Roadmap to Action (Washington DC)

Launch of Sum4All’s global policy tool which allow the user to explore over
180 policies to achieve sustainable movement in their country.
11 https://documents-dds-ny.un.org/doc/UNDOC/GEN/N16/461/16/PDF/N1646116.pdf?OpenElement
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Discussion of the problem:

Universal Access
In rural areas, where the vast majority of low-income people live, limited
connectivity is a critical constraint. Based on the current Rural Accessibility
Index, it is estimated that about 450 million people in Africa - more than
70 per cent of the total rural population - are not connected due to the lack
of infrastructure and transport systems. In urban areas, where an
additional two billion people are expected to live in cities by 2045,
population growth far outstrips that of public transport, limiting access to
economic and social opportunities. Urban transport systems and services
need to be modernised - and in some cases planned from scratch - in an
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integrated manner to ensure balanced access for urban residents,
regardless of income, travel mode, gender or disability. Urban mobility
should promote and enable cities to flourish, without creating over-
dependence on any particular mode of travel.
Women’s mobility, it is of concern in both rural and urban areas. Although

there is no official database on public-transit-related crimes, there is
evidence that security issues constrain women’s mobility. The lack of
personal security, or the inability to use public transport without the fear of
being victimized—whether on public transport, walking to or from a transit
facility or stop, or waiting at a bus, transit stop, or station platform—can
substantially decrease the attractiveness and thus the use of public transit.
Access to transportation is part of Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 10,

13 and 16 which identify transport (and mobility) as a key factor for access
to education and employment and recognize its importance regarding
climate change.
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Source: http://www.slocat.net/sdgs-transport
Efficiency
Efficiency needs to be taken into account for all policy decisions concerning
mobility as it seeks to ensure that transport demand is met effectively and,
and at the least possible cost. Since efficiency cuts across multiple aspects,
we understand efficiency here as the optimization of resources—energy,
technology, space, institutions, and regulations—to generate an efficient
transport system or network. There are no internationally agreed global
targets concerning transport efficiency which suggests that the
international community should invest in better understanding and
measuring this objective—a critical aspect for the future of mobility.
New technology will help improve the efficiency of transport systems. Yet,
a recent global survey on digital readiness shows that the transport sector
is less ready to embrace digitalization than other sectors. Positive global
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trends include improvement in logistics performance and fuel economy
during the last decade, both of which contribute to reducing the aggregate
cost of goods as well as fossil fuel energy consumption. But institutional
and regulatory barriers—especially in land-locked developing countries and
their transit neighbours—continue to prevent reduction in transport costs.
Safety
1. Safety of Transport
Improving the safety of mobility across all modes of transport by
avoiding fatalities, injuries, and crashes from transport mishaps
needs to be one of the first priorities concerning mobility.
Internationally agreed global targets for road and air transport
safety are for example developed by the World Health Organisation.
Road transport claims the bulk of transport related fatalities
worldwide: it accounts for 97 percent of the deaths and 93 percent
of the costs. On roads, the fatality risk for motorcyclists is 20 times
higher than for car occupants, followed by cycling and walking, with
7 to 9 times higher risk than car travel, respectively. Bus occupants
are 10 times safer than car occupants. Rail and air are the safest
transport modes. Globally, 40 to 50 percent of traffic fatalities occur
in urban areas. Evidence suggests that the highest fatality rates
occur in cities in the developing world—the proportion of fatalities in
urban areas is high and rising in low- and middle- income countries.
The WSF has stresses the work on unsafe mobility in any of these
transport modes can pose significant public health risks, and can
lead to social and economic losses.
2. Safety in Migration Processes

The term of “safety” is not well defined for migration processes.
Safety is up to subjective interpretation and might differ across for
example, different sectors of employment. Due to this lack of
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definition it is difficult to create a clear set of rights migrants
can claim to achieve their personal safety and the well-being of
their families.
Green Mobility
Green mobility aims to address the threat transportation and mobility poses
on climate change through mitigation and adaptation with the goal to
reduce both air and noise pollution. It is related to SDG13 of the 2030
Agenda which aims to take urgent action to combat climate change and its
impacts, and is anchored in the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Its
targets will be designed to achieve a net-zero-emission economy by 2050,
and improve other dimensions such as air quality and climate resilience by
2030, as set forth in the SDG targets.
In 2012, transport was the largest energy consuming sector in 40 percent

of countries worldwide, and in the remaining countries it was the second-
largest energy consuming sector. In one projection, energy related CO2
emissions are expected to grow by 40 percent between 2013 and 2040.
The sector already contributes 23 percent of global energy-related
greenhouse gas emissions and 18 percent of all men-made emissions in
the global economy.
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Source: International Energy Association. IEA and IPCC (2014) Summary for Policymakers
Moving Forward: The Vision

If the international community wants to keep its commitments to the SDGs
and the Paris agreement, we are striving for a future where mobility is
sustainable, cities and remote communities in rural areas will all be
connected to jobs, markets and opportunities, so that “no one is left
behind”. Transport will become the lifeline for all, including vulnerable
groups as transport services will reach them all. Transport networks will be
seamlessly integrated to meet mobility needs through motorized and active
modes (such as walking and cycling). Landlocked developing countries will
have swift access to the sea and, together with small island developing
States, will be fully integrated into the global economy. In this vision of the
future transport-related fatalities and emissions are fully minimized.
Block Positions:
The challenge in this topic will be to find a set of measures which are
effective while at the same time being manageable. It is important to define
concrete goals and not overwhelm a WSF declaration with a multitude of
unachievable aims.
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Position of the EU:
The EU has experienced the height of a migration crisis in 2015 with
refugees coming to Europa following the Central Mediterranean or the
Eastern Mediterranean routes. The intensity of the crisis has on the one
hand inspired humanitarian help but on the other hand also provoked
disagreements between the EU member states themselves. In response,
the EU implemented measures to better control external borders and
migration flows which reduced irregular arrivals to the EU by more than
90%. Central to this was a close cooperation between the EU and Turkey.
The EU focusses on achieving effective, humanitarian and safe migration
and has established a legal framework for asylum seekers, highly skilled
workers, students and researchers, seasonal workers and family
reunification. While each member state is independent and has individual
migration policies that are also dependent on the party in governance,
these frameworks unite EU countries.
The European Commission drive European policies for future mobility. Aims
include the complete connection of Europe, creating jobs, fostering
innovation and encouraging clean and sustainable movement.
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Source: https://ec.europa.eu/transport/sites/transport/files/mobility-
package-factsheet-overall.pdf
Position of NGOs:
NGOs concerned with migration usually either focus on short term support
and relief or on long-term solutions and integration (or both). Depending
on their primary goals they might have different priorities when it comes to
suggesting concrete measures.
Position of developing countries:

Citizen emigrating from developing countries often do so with the prospect
of a better education or career. They then in many cases send money back
to their country of origin to support their remaining family. According to the
OECD these money transfers by migrants constitute an important source of
development finance for developing countries. However, these often fail to
stimulate long-term development because of the lack of adequate
supporting policies. Remittances represent on average 8% of GDP across
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the IPPMD countries12, but few households make investments due to
lacking financial infrastructure and education. This represents a missed
opportunity when it comes to channelling these payments towards a more
efficient national development.
Similarly, immigrants who move to developing countries could lead to a
better national development with the proper policies in place. A missing
legal framework often leads to immigrants not obtaining a regular status
and limits their access to social protection and integration measures. These
issues lead to lower levels of investment, for example according to the
OECD in countries like Costa Rica, Côte d’Ivoire and the Dominican Republic
immigrant household heads with a regular migration status are more likely
to own a business.
Position of least developed countries (LDCs), landlocked developing

countries (LLDCs) and small island developing States (SIDS):
The negative impacts of climate change disproportionately affect these
countries as they lack the infrastructure that would support mitigation and
have a geographical disadvantage. In combination with other factors, this
makes LDCs, LLDCs and SIDS some of the most vulnerable groups of
countries in the world. The Istanbul Programme of Action, the Vienna
Programme of Action and the SAMOA Pathway analyse this vulnerability
due to external shocks and recognizes the role of migrants in the
development of their communities through knowledge and technology
transfer as well as remittance.
Please be aware that this analysis of the interests of different groups is not
comprehensive. Please research your country position in detail.
https://www.oecd.org/dev/migration-development/developing-countries-need-more-coherent-policy-agenda-
12
make-most-migration-says-new-oecd-development-centre-report.htm
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Conclusion
To sum up, international mobility is undoubtedly a necessity in a rapidly
changing world such as the one we live in today, especially for migrants.
Throughout this study guide, we have identified the key points that still
need to be addressed by the WSF, starting with security, which is not
always guaranteed in transportation. At the WSF of LIMUN 2020, security
will be at the heart of the discussions. Another key point that delegates
must take into account at all times is green mobility, as environmental
issues are beginning to pose threats to international security as a whole.
Universal access, such as the provision of mobility for all, in all content and
in rural areas, should also be deepened. WSF is the ideal place to include
the socio-economic aspects such topic entails to provide efficient solutions
around mobility.
Questions a Resolution should answer:
• How can access to transportation be improved, especially for people

from low-income households and in rural areas?
• How can people be motivated to rely increasingly on public transport
and other more sustainable ways of travel?
• How can the cross-border safety of migrants be improved?
• How can the legal status of migrants be improved?
• How can the international community work together to make mobility
more efficient?
• How can increasing mobility be designed to go hand in hand with net-
zero-emissions in 2050?
Embracing the inspiring and creative style of the world social forum, we will
adapt the workings of this committee while still operating under the usual
LIMUN 2020 ROPs. In the following section we will explain the workings of
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this committee in more detail, please don’t hesitate to send questions to
your chairing team at wsf@limun.org.uk if you experience major
unclarities.
3. Participants of the LIMUN WSF 2020

The committee will be composed of delegates representing countries as
well as of delegates representing Non-Governmental-Organisations
(NGOs). Countries and NGOs will be entirely equal in this committee and
also have equal voting rights. This mixed allocation reflects the diversity
of stakeholders at the WSF.
4. Aim of the committee

The aim of the committee is to pass a draft resolution which we will in
our context refer to as a WSF declaration, as the WSF is not an official
UN body. WSF declarations do not necessarily have to be written in draft
resolution format, the acceptance of more creative formats will be up to
discretion of the chairs. It is possible to submit both a declaration in
draft resolution format and a creative piece, the chairs encourage this.
The introduction of working papers and draft resolutions can happen as
a creative process (for example a presentation, video etc, interactive
session etc.). Inappropriate or offensive presentations will be ruled
dilatory.
The declarations should propose concrete solutions to the questions

posed in this section. As the World Social Forum itself is not political,
specific measures proposed in the declaration should be addressed to
specific UN bodies or organizations that can ensure their
implementation.
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Further Reading
http://globalworkplaceanalytics.com/telecommuting-statistics
https://newsroom.cisco.com/press-release-content?articleId=1771211 6
Cisco 2017.“Cisco Visual Networking Index: Global Mobile Data
TrafficForecast Update, 2016–2021,” White Paper.
International Energy Agency. Energy Technology Perspectives.
International Energy Agency 2013. Policy Pathways – A Tale of New

Cities.
World Economic Forum 2013. Enabling Trade – Valuing Growth

Opportunities
Bleijenberg, A. N. (2017). New mobility: beyond the car era. Delft:

Eburon.
Roberts, Peter, K. C. Shyam, and C. Rastogi 2006. Rural Access Index: A

Key Development
Indicator. Transport Papers TP-10. Washington, DC: World Bank.

World Bank 2017. Enabling the Business of Agriculture 2017. Washington,
DC: World Bank
See Mobilizing Transport for Sustainable Development. Analysis and Policy

Recommendations from the United Nations Secretary General’s Advisory
Group on Sustainable Transport, October 2016.
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Bibliography
• SUM4ALL (2020) Homepage Sustainable mobilitiy for all
https://sum4all.org/
• OECD (2019) Migration OECD https://www.oecd.org/migration/
retrieved 2019 Dec
• Migration policy centre (2020) Homepage
http://www.migrationpolicycentre.eu/#0
• United Nations (2019) Migration
https://www.un.org/en/sections/issues-depth/migration/index.html
• United Nations (2020) The Sustainable Development Agenda
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
• Soulard, F. (2017) World Social Forum Charter of Principles
FSMM2018 https://fsmm2018.org/world-social-forum-charter-
principles/?lang=en
• Shumba, O. (2017) Safe migration in a world on the move UNDP
https://www.undp.org/content/undp/en/home/blog/2017/safe-
migration-in-a-world-on-the-move.html
• Calderón, C., and L. Servén (2004) “The effects of Infrastructure
Development on Growth and Income Distribution.” Washington,
D.C.: World Bank.
• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,

Population Division (2015) World Population Ageing 2015
(ST/ESA/SER.A/390). New York: United Nations.
• United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs,

Population Division (2014) World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014
Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352). New York: United
Nations.
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World Social Forum

London International Model United Nations

Introduction to the Committee 9

TOPIC A: Disarm Finance and Achieve Tax Justice 11

Discussion of the Problem 17

Questions a Resolution should answer : 28

TOPIC B: Migration and International Mobility 33

Discussion of the problem: 37

Questions a Resolution should answer: 46

Please do not hesitate to contact us if you have any questions leading up

Michael, Monika, Rigel and Annika

Hello everyone! My name is Annika and I am honoured to welcome you to

All the best,

Assistant Director – Rigel R. Gomez

Assistant Director - Michael Bornholdt

Assistant Director – Monika Patriarchea

TOPIC A: Disarm Finance

However, some countries struggle to collect sufficient tax revenues.

Regressive fiscal policies:

Tax evasion and Tax avoidance

2004 - Creation of the UN Tax committee

2008 - Financial crisis

2013 –2016 - Tax haven scandals

Discussion of the Problem

Tax and human rights

Governments could establish robust mechanisms for taxing the corporate

In summary, strengthening the role of human rights frameworks in fiscal

Tax & Gender Equality

Poorly designed fiscal policies undermine progress towards gender equality.

Tax & Climate Action

1. Carbon taxing and social equity

2. Carbon taxing and international trade

3. Alternatives to Carbon taxing

Summary map of existing, emerging and potential regional, national and

Tax justice in the Word Social Forum

WSF 2015: Declaration “Tax justice to end inequality”

WSF 2016: Declaration “Disarm Finance and Achieve Tax Justice”.

The OECD tax reform

Although tasked with the most dramatic change to century-old international

On the bright side, the Independent Commission for the Reform of

 How can progressive tax policies help tackle inequality within

 How can a CO2 pricing system be implemented that support net-zero-

1. Participants of the LIMUN WSF 2020

2. Aim of the committee

The declarations should propose concrete solutions to the questions

Background reading on tax havens:

• OECD. (2009, December 14) TAXATION AND AID FOR DOMESTIC

TOPIC B: Migration and

Internal Migration: moving within a state, country or continent.

2015 – COP 21 Paris

2016 – Climate Action Summit (Washington DC)

2017 – UN Resolution on International Migration and Development

2017 – ASEAN Consensus on the Protection and Promotion of the

2019 – Launch of the Global Roadmap to Action (Washington DC)

Discussion of the problem:

Women’s mobility, it is of concern in both rural and urban areas. Although

Access to transportation is part of Sustainable Development Goals 4, 8, 10,

2. Safety in Migration Processes