Global Justice Now, formerly known as the World Development Movement (WDM), is a membership organisation based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

which campaigns on issues of

global justice Global justice is an issue in political philosophy arising from the concern about unfairness. It is sometimes understood as a form of internationalism. Global justice and international justice may be distinguished in that the latter is concern ...

and development in the

Global South Global North and Global South are terms that denote a method of grouping countries based on their defining characteristics with regard to socioeconomics and politics. According to UN Trade and Development (UNCTAD), the Global South broadly com ...

. The organisation produces research on topics on the developing world and free trade. Examples include their work against trade deals such as TTIP, or highlighting how UK aid has been used. Much of their research is aimed at attempting to demonstrate how corporation power, supported by governments, has an adverse effect on those living in poverty.

Purpose and goals

Its aims are: * To work with, and amplify the voices of, groups that are fighting the takeover of their resources, such as food, water and energy * To mobilise people in the UK to create change * To use political systems to control the power of big business

Organisational structure

Global Justice Now has a network of local groups as well as individual members, and an office in Edinburgh from which Global Justice Scotland is run. It participates in international networks such as the Our World is Not for Sale network on trade and

corporate A corporation or body corporate is an individual or a group of people, such as an association or company, that has been authorized by the state to act as a single entity (a legal entity recognized by private and public law as "born out of s ...

globalisation Globalization is the process of increasing interdependence and integration among the economies, markets, societies, and cultures of different countries worldwide. This is made possible by the reduction of barriers to international trade, th ...

, and the

World Social Forum The World Social Forum (WSF, ) is an annual meeting of civil society organizations, first held in Brazil, which offers a self-conscious effort to develop an alternative future through the championing of counter-hegemonic globalization. The Worl ...

. Global Justice Now has an associated

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

, ''Global Justice Now Trust'', which funds Global Justice Now’s charitable activities.

History

Global Justice Now started in 1969 as ' Action for World Development' (AWD). Many people were involved in collecting one million signatures on a petition about world development and had seen the need for political campaigning which charity law restricted development charities from undertaking. AWD was formally launched by aid agencies such as Oxfam and Christian Aid, and by churches. The World Development Movement was formed in 1970, and extended the work of AWD but as a separate body with its own member groups to decide its policies and priorities. Its constitution was subsequently changed to allow individuals as well as local groups to become members. Global Justice Now was a co-founder of the Fairtrade Foundation in 1992,

Jubilee 2000 Jubilee 2000 was an international coalition movement in over 40 countries that called for cancellation of third world debt by the year 2000. This movement coincided with the Great Jubilee, the celebration of the year 2000 in the Catholic Church. ...

in 1997, the

Trade Justice Movement {{Citations missing, date=November 2017 The Trade Justice Movement is a British coalition, founded in 2000, of more than 60 organizations campaigning for trade justice Trade justice is a campaign by non-governmental organisations, plus effort ...

in 2000, and the 2005 anti-poverty mobilisation

Make Poverty History Make Poverty History were organizations in a number of countries, which focused on issues relating to 8th Millennium Development Goal such as aid, trade and justice. They generally formed a coalition of aid and development agencies which worked ...

. In late 2006, Global Justice Now moved its London offices from Brixton to new premises at 66 Offley Road in Kennington, London. On 1 January 2015 the organisation was renamed to ''Global Justice Now'' as part of a wider relaunch.

Campaign highlights

Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP)

Global Justice Now successfully campaigned against TTIP, the proposed

free trade agreement A free trade agreement (FTA) or treaty is an agreement according to international law to form a free-trade area between the cooperating state (polity), states. There are two types of trade agreements: Bilateralism, bilateral and Multilateralism, m ...

between the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. It argued that safety regulations, workers’ rights, environmental protection rules and food standards regulations were all threatened by TTIP. TTIP negotiations petered out in October 2016 and the whole project was shelved. This allowed Global Justice Now to claim a significant campaign victory.

Climate change

Global Justice Now considers climate change to be a

climate justice Climate justice is a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized or otherwise vulnerable populations. Climate justice seeks to achieve an equitable distribution of both the burdens of clima ...

issue. In 2009 they successfully campaigned to stop new coal-fired power stations in Kingsnorth, Kent and Hunterston in Ayrshire because the organisation considered any plans for new coal-fired power stations to be incompatible with plans to tackle climate change. From 2010 Global Justice Now ran a campaign on

climate debt Climate debt is the debt said to be owed to developing countries by developed countries for the damage caused by their disproportionately large contributions to climate change. Historical global greenhouse gas emissions, largely by developed countr ...

opposing the UK government's plans to give money in the form of climate loans to already heavily indebted poor countries in the global South.

Controversy

Global Justice Now entered into a controversial partnership agreement with

Ecotricity Ecotricity is a British energy company based in Stroud, Gloucestershire, specialising in selling green energy to consumers that it primarily generates from its 87.2 megawatt wind power portfolio. It is built on the principle of heavily reinvest ...

from which they benefit financially whereby supporters who switch their energy supply to Ecotricity, leads to a payment of up to £60 to Global Justice Now. The owner of Ecotricity, Dale Vince is reported to employ aggressive

tax avoidance Tax avoidance is the legal usage of the tax regime in a single territory to one's own advantage to reduce the amount of tax that is payable. A tax shelter is one type of tax avoidance, and tax havens are jurisdictions that facilitate reduced taxe ...

strategies to minimise his tax obligations. This directly conflicts with Global Justice Now's Tax Justice campaigns to hold corporations to account so they pay their fair share of tax in the countries they operate in. Furthermore, Ecotricity employ G4S Utility Services for their meter reading services, a subsidiary of controversial multinational

G4S G4S is a British multinational private security company headquartered in London, England. The company was set up in July 2004 when London-based Securicor amalgamated with Danish firm Group 4 Falck. The company offers a range of services, in ...

that is widely reported to be involved in widespread human rights abuses. As a social justice organisation Global Justice Now were criticised for indirectly aiding and abetting human rights abuses as a result of their continued relationship with Ecotricity. In response to complaints about Ecotricity's use of G4S, Dale Vince gave assurances that he would end the contract with G4S Utility Services in 2014 and then reneged on his promise when Ecotricity announced it had renewed its contract with G4S Utility Services for another four-year period from January 2016 to December 2020. Global Justice Now ended its partnership with Ecotricity in early 2016, following a review over concerns about their association with G4S. The organisation gave assurances that their partnership was set up at a time when Ecotricity were the most ethical option to promote to their supporters who were concerned about the environmental and climate impacts of their energy use. They also added that the termination of the partnership was not triggered by any complaints received nor was there any open or public criticism, as implied by this posting.

References

External links

Global Justice Now (archive)Global Justice Now's flickr photostreamTrade Justice Movement
{{Authority control Organizations established in 1970 1970 establishments in the United Kingdom Advocacy groups in the United Kingdom Development charities based in the United Kingdom Global policy organizations Organisations based in the London Borough of Lambeth Political organisations based in London