Tax Havens and International Human Rights by Beckett Paul

Author:Beckett, Paul
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781317210924
Publisher: Taylor & Francis (CAM)

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Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (the European Convention) 1950 [and the Human Rights Act 2001]

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International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights 1966

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International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966

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Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women 1979

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Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989

In addition, the Isle of Man is under the wing of the United Kingdom as regards its obligations entered into as a member of the world’s oldest human rights organisation, the International Labour Organization. For an analysis of the representative impact of Isle of Man structures on the international human rights continuum see Chapter 5.

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Reflecting the limitation found in section 4(2) Companies (Beneficial Ownership) Act 2012 – data on the beneficial ownership of companies incorporated outside the Isle of Man is not held, notwithstanding that the licensed corporate services providers in the Isle of Man provide on a regular basis their services to entities wherever incorporated. Presumably even when this provision is re-enacted to conform to the Technical Protocol of 12 April 2016 this limitation will not be removed.

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An attempt on the part of the United Kingdom to compel the publication of beneficial ownership registers of companies in Overseas Territories by the insertion of a clause in the Criminal Finances Bill 2017 was defeated in the House of Commons on 21 February 2017. Speaking in the debate, Nigel Mills MP stated:

The advantage of transparency … is that it puts the information into the public domain so that various NGOs or other bodies can do some of the initial investigation, piece together the corporate chains and links, break the corporate veils, and thereby work out where this money is coming from and where it has got to. I am a little sceptical that our law enforcement bodies will ever have the resources to start that process in the vast majority of cases.

Criminal Finances Bill Deb 21 February 2017 vol 621 col 906–08 <htt­ps:­//h­ans­ard­.pa­rli­ame­nt.­uk/­Com­mon­s/2­017­-02­-21­/de­bat­es/­E34­615­6E-­E86­2-4­E5B­-82­33-­C17­ECF­374­C21­/Cr­imi­nal­Fin­anc­esB­ill­?hi­ghl­igh­t=b­ene­fic­ial­%2­0ow­ner­shi­p#­con­tri­but­ion­-56­833­C35­-3D­AB-­46F­B-A­38C­-71­E34­22E­413­8> accessed 30 April 2017. ‘Nevertheless, it remains the Government’s ambition for public registers to become the global standard. If this happens, we would expect the Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies to follow suit.’ ‘Companies: Ownership: Written question – 67174’ (Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, United Kingdom, 8 March 2017) <www­.pa­rli­ame­nt.­uk/­bus­ine­ss/­pub­lic­ati­ons­/wr­itt­en-­que­sti­ons­-an­swe­rs-­sta­tem­ent­s/w­rit­ten­-qu­est­ion­/Co­mmo­ns/­201­7-0­3-0­8/6­717­4> accessed 30 April 2017.

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For example, as envisaged under the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, “UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations ‘Protect, Respect and Remedy’ Framework” (2011) UN Doc HR/PUB/11/04.

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Technical Protocol, para 7(vi)(a).

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Council of Europe, The Committee of Experts on the Evaluation of Anti-Money Laundering Measures and the Financing of Terrorism (MONEYVAL), ‘Anti-Money Laundering and Counter-Terrorist Financing Measures: Isle of Man: Fifth Round Mutual Evaluation Report’ (Council of Europe, 2016) <www­.co­e.i­nt/­t/d­ghl­/mo­nit­ori­ng/­mon­eyv­al/­Eva­lua­tio­ns/­rou­nd5­/MO­NEY­VAL­(20­16)­25_­5th­R_M­ER_­Isl­e%­20o­f%­20M­an.­pdf­> accessed 25 April 2017.

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As the Financial Transparency Coalition observes:

Bitcoin presents short- and long-term risks to financial crime. Like tax havens and other jurisdictions with lax laws on beneficial ownership, Bitcoin presents criminals with an opportunity to keep their money and their transactions secret.

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