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UN independent expert says financial tools are being used as weapons, urges institutional reform
Summary
An independent United Nations expert warned at a New York press briefing that debt, taxes and illicit financial flows are being used to sustain conflict and called for reforms to the Security Council, IMF and World Bank.
Ms. Morris, an independent expert who presented a report on finance and peace at a United Nations press briefing in New York, said on Oct. 26 that debt, tax policy and illicit financial flows are now being used as instruments that sustain and intensify armed conflict.
In a concise address followed by questions, Morris told journalists that countries and private investors are using financial tools to undercut civilian life and to profit from weaponry, and she called for major institutional reforms to reduce the harms she documented. "There is blood on the budget lines," she said, summarizing a theme of her report.
Morris said rising interest rates, currency fluctuations and mounting surcharges on indebted countries are increasing economic stress and the potential for conflict. She cited Ukraine, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka as examples of places where debt and economic distress have contributed to social upheaval and said withholding of tax revenues can have immediate humanitarian effects. "The result of this withholding of taxpayer revenue means that…
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