Tax and Human Rights Conference: The Human Rights Impact of Tax and Fiscal Policy Thursday, 12 February 2015 – Dublin Speakers Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (Keynote speaker) Philip Alston is John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law at New York University. He is currently UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights. In 2014 he was a member of the UN Security Council's Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic. He previously served as Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions (200410) and as Chairperson of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1991-98). During the drafting of the Convention on the Rights of the Child he was UNICEF's Legal Adviser. Simon Harris, TD, Minister of State at the Department of Finance (Speaker) John Mark McCafferty, Head of Social Justice, St Vincent de Paul (Speaker) Sorley McCaughey, Head of Advocacy and Policy, Christian Aid Ireland (Speaker) As Head of Advocacy and Policy Sorley has led on Christian Aid’s tax work since 2009. During this time tax as a development issue has moved from a marginal niche issue to being recognised as mainstream consideration for Irish government officials developing Irish tax policy. Sorley also sits on the EC Platform for Tax Good Governance. Previously Sorley work for the UNDP in Mozambique and Ethiopia where his area of expertise was anti-corruption programmes and public sector reform. Panels Professor Donncha O’Connell, Head of the School of Law, NUI Galway (Moderator) Professor Donncha O'Connell is Head of the School of Law at NUI Galway. He serves on two statutory bodies - as a part-time Commissioner of the Law Reform Commission and a member of the Legal Aid Board. He has also served on the boards of a number of human rights organisations including: INTERIGHTS, Amnesty International - Ireland and the Free Legal Advice Centres (FLAC) Ltd. He was, from 1999 to 2002, the first full-time Director of the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL). Panels Joe Stead, Senior Economic Adviser, Christian Aid (GB) (Moderator) Joseph Stead is Christian Aid's Senior Economic Justice Adviser, primarily focusing on the relationship between tax and development and the related EU and UK policy. He leads Christian Aid’s policy on Automatic Information Exchange, Beneficial Ownership and Country by Country Reporting. He comes from the UK civil service where he worked for both the Foreign and Home Office and among other things he worked on African economics, trade and development policy and asylum and immigration law. He has an MSc in African Politics from SOAS and is also co-chair of the board for the Jubilee Debt Campaign. Lorna Gold, Head of Advocacy and Policy, Trócaire (Moderator) Aine Lawlor, Journalist, RTE (Moderator) Sheila Killian, Assistant Dean, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick Sheila Killian is the Assistant Dean, Research and the Director of the Principles for Responsible Management Education (PRME) at the Kemmy Business School at University of Limerick. Prior to joining KBS, Sheila worked as a tax advisor with Ernst & Young, KPMG and Arthur Andersen & Co. Sheila has a primary degree in Mathematics, a Master’s degree in Business Studies and a PhD in Taxation. She qualified as a Chartered Accountant (national prize winner in the final admitting exams) and as an Associate of the Institute of Taxation in Ireland, and has published widely in international academic and practitioner journals. Ricardo Barrientos, Senior Economist, Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies and former Deputy Finance Minister, Guatemala José Ricardo Barrientos Quezada is a senior economist at the Central American Institute of Fiscal Studies (Icefi), He is an expert in fiscal policy topics who previously served as Vice-Minister of Public Finance of Guatemala (20092010) and Director and Technical Advisor at the Fiscal Analysis Unit at the Ministry of Public Finance of Guatemala (1994-2005). As independent consultant, he has done research work on fiscal policy and evaluation on public policies and published works on tax policy and tax evasion analysis in Guatemala. Mr. Barrientos also served as independent consultant for the last Fiscal Pact Commission in Guatemala, in charge of the indirect taxation study and proposal (2007). He has doctoral studies in Mathematics from the University of Barcelona, Spain (2005-2006); holds the International Tax Certificate from Harvard University, USA (2000) and is a mathematician graduated from Universidad del Valle de Guatemala (1995). Panels Cora O’Brien, Tax Policy Director, Irish Tax Institute Cora O’Brien is Tax Policy Director with the Irish Tax Institute. She has lead the Institute’s work on a range of domestic and international tax policy and administration issues, including the introduction of Ireland’s International Tax Strategy, the OECD BEPS Action Plan, the EU’s VAT and 2015 project, the Digital Economy, the design of the Irish income tax regime, the development and implementation of the Local Property Tax, reform of taxation for charitable donations etc. Cora represents the Institute on Main TALC (Tax Administration Liaison Committee) and the Money Laundering Steering Committee and is a Chartered Tax Adviser and a Chartered Accountant. She is the Institute’s Fiscal and Professional Affairs representative at the Confederation Fiscale Europeenne (the representative organisation for the tax profession in Europe). Lidy Nacpil, Coordinator, Tax Justice Asia, Philippines Lidy Nacpil has been involved in economic justice issues for more than 2 decades. Her work on public finance and fiscal policy includes tax justice campaigning in the Philippines as early as the 1990's and more recently coorganizing the Asian Fiscal and Tax Justice Alliance in 2014. She is a member of the Coordinating Committee of the Global Alliance on Tax Justice (GATJ). She is also actively involved in global campaigns on the issues of illegitimate debt and on climate change. Niko Lusiani, Director, Human Rights in Economic Policy, Centre for Economic and Social Rights Nicholas Lusiani is Director of the Human Rights in Economic Policy Program at the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR). His work focuses on developing alternative human rights-centred economic and development policies. Niko received a Master’s degree in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, where he specialized in international human rights law and macroeconomics. His most recent publications include “Only the Little People Pay Taxes: Tax Evasion and Switzerland’s Extraterritorial Obligations to Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Zambia,” Economic and Social Rights in the ‘Great Recession’: Towards a Human Rights-Centred Economic Policy in Times of Crisis” and "A Post-2015 Fiscal Revolution”, co-published by Christian Aid and CESR. Ben Dickinson, Head of the Tax and Development Unit, OECD Deirdre Donaghy, Fiscal Policy Division, Department of Finance Panels Michael Gaffey, Director General, Irish Aid, Department. of Foreign Affairs and Trade Michael Gaffey is Director General of Irish Aid, Development Cooperation Division. He has worked in the Department of Foreign Affairs, Ireland, since 1979. He has worked in Irish Embassies overseas including Baghdad, Tokyo, Chicago, London and Cairo (including Palestinian Territory, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Sudan). John Christensen, Director, Tax Justice Network John Christensen directs the Tax Justice Network, an expert-led network which leads global efforts to tackle tax havens. Trained as a forensic investigator and economist, he has worked in many countries around the world, including a period working in offshore financial services with Touche Ross & Co. For 11 years he was Economic Adviser to the government of the British Channel Island of Jersey. In 2003 he became what the Guardian has described as “the unlikely figurehead of a worldwide campaign against tax avoidance.” His research on small islands and offshore finance has been widely published in books and academic journals, and John has taken part in many films, television documentaries and radio programmes. John Christensen holds an honours degree in applied economics and an M.Phil. in economics and law. He has also done post-graduate studies at Templeton College, Oxford and the London School of Economics and Political Sciences. His work has been sponsored by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust and the Ford Foundation, and he is a Fellow of the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce. Shane D’arcy, Irish Centre for Human Rights, NUI Galway Dr Shane Darcy is a lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights at the National University of Ireland Galway, where he teaches international criminal law and business and human rights. He is on the Editorial Board of the Business and Human Rights Journal and the Editorial Committee of Criminal Law Forum. He is a member of the National Board of Amnesty International’s Irish Section and runs the Business and Human Rights in Ireland blog. Fergal O’Brien, Chief Economist, IBEC