Photo by Kyle Glenn

About the Event

Negotiations are now underway for the creation of the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (FCITC) after decades of advocacy for tax justice by civil society groups and developing countries. This roundtable will bring together academic, policy, and practitioner perspectives to explore the proposed landmark tax treaty and its implications for global tax reform. Our panel will provide the background to the treaty and discuss challenges ahead for negotiators, advocates and campaigners and explore the relationship between the global tax regime, human rights, social justice and sustainable development. There will be opportunities for Questions and Answers from the audience.

About the Speakers:

• Professor Sol Picciotto is Emeritus Professor at Lancaster Law School and Honorary Professor at Warwick Law School He is also Senior Fellow at the International Centre for Tax and Development and a Senior Adviser of the Tax Justice Network, and coordinator of the BEPS Monitoring Group. Sol's expertise spans international economic law and regulation, with a focus on business taxation, intellectual property, financial regulation, and tax havens.

•  Dr Maria Ron Balsera is the Executive Director at the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR). She is a feminist leader with a proven commitment to collaborative research and advocacy, as demonstrated through her work with national, regional, and international coalitions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. Maria finished her PhD in Education and Human Development from Bielefeld University in 2014, on a Marie Curie Fellowship. She also holds an MSc in Human Rights from the London School of Economics and an LLM in Human Rights from Universidad Carlos III in Madrid. She has done research at the Institute of Education (UCL) as a visiting research associate, and at UC Berkeley through a research exchange program.

• Dr Matti Kohonen is Director of the Financial Transparency Coalition, researcher on tax and fiscal policy and a founding member of the Tax Justice Network. Matti holds a PhD in Sociology from the London School of Economics, where his research in Ghana examined social enterprises' value creation beyond economic measures. With over a decade of experience in analysing financial and tax policy impacts on developing nations, Matti is a founding member of the Tax Justice Network and editor of Tax Justice: Putting Global Inequality on the Agenda. He has also contributed to UN Financing for Development initiatives, advocating for progressive fiscal policies and standards in development finance.

• Dr John Snape is Associate Professor at Warwick Law School with expertise in public finance law and policy. John holds an MA from the University of Oxford and a PhD from the University of Birmingham. He is currently completing a large-scale book project - his academic research preoccupation of the last several years - provisionally entitled Political Right and the Taxation of Multinational Groups. He is widely published on tax law and policy, among other things being the author of the monograph, The Political Economy of Corporation Tax (2011) and co-editor of, as well as a contributor to Landmark Cases in Revenue Law (2019).

Background Materials:

• CESR (2024), ‘The adoption of the UN Tax Convention Terms of Reference paves the way for Fiscal Justice’, Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) 16 August 2024.

• Picciotto, S (2024), ‘The Design of a UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation’, Tax Cooperation Policy Brief No 38, South Centre 15 May 2024.

• Travers, E (2024) ‘Why the world needs a UN global tax convention’, UN News, 16 August 2024.

This event will be followed by a drinks and canapes reception. Please contact globe@warwick.ac.uk if you have any dietary requirements.

Download the Event Poster here