Curbing Illicit Financial Flows and dismantling secrecy jurisdictions to advance women?s human rights

CORINA RODRÍGUEZ ENRÍQUEZ; VERÓNICA GRONDONA; NICOLE BIDEGAIN

Londres

Workshop; Research Workshop on Corruption and the Role of Tax Havens; 2016

Association for Accountancy & Business Affairs, City University, and the Tax Justice Network

This paper explores some of the links between tax justice and gender justice at the global level. It highlights two channels in which illicit financial flows and gender justice are connected. Tax evasion and avoidance have the following effects: (i) undermine the possibility to close the financing gap for gender equality and women?s rights; (ii) have negative impacts on vertical equity and the progressiveness of tax systems that disproportionately affect women. The paper goes on to focus on the role of financial secrecy jurisdictions and global networks of facilitations in enabling the illicit financial flows resulting from trafficking in women. The paper presents a review of existing literature and evidence, and provides new insights from more in-depth qualitative research for the case of Argentina. It argues that confronting and dismantling the global enablers and secrecy jurisdictions will be beneficial not only for transparency and global equality but also to achieve greater gender equality and to respect, protect and fulfill the human rights of women and girls.