Global Justice Now annual review 2018

Our annual review 2018

Contents A message from our director

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Building a better future: 2018 in review 4 Trade that works for people and planet

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Together for the right to move and the right to stay

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People before profits

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Building a global movement

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How we’re funded

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Voices from around the movement

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© Genevieve Stevenson

A message from our director As we take stock of 2018, there are lots of things to be proud of. But one thing in particular that stands out to me is the wave of action against the government’s draconian ‘hostile environment’ for migrants.

Together, we stopped parts of the hostile environment while others were suspended indefinitely. There’s more to do, but as a movement we have made astounding progress on what is a flagship government policy.

After the Windrush scandal in April, we saw a movement of organisations, campaigners, activists and ordinary people coming together to demand an end to these atrocious policies.

As a global justice organisation, it’s not just about working on the root causes of poverty. We must also stand behind and defend the people who have fled inequality and poverty, which is often caused by British foreign and economic policy.

Of course, we’ve had lots of other important victories too. We’ve played a leading role in building popular pressure for democratic control over post-Brexit trade deals and getting it firmly on the agenda of parliament.

We worked with all opposition parties to push amendments to Liam Fox’s dangerous Trade Bill.

This culminated in our recent amendment to the bill successfully passing in the House of Lords.

And our key policy demands were reflected in the Labour Party’s new development policy, including an end to the privatisation of aid and ensuring that aid money is spent on reducing inequality as well as poverty. We’re now ready to take the campaign to a new stage following the publication of our latest aid report.

Thank you for making all of this possible. Our movement is growing and you’re an essential part of it.

Together we can build a better future.

Nick Dearden Director of Global Justice Now

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Building a better future Brexit, Trump, trade wars, climate catastrophe, creeping fascism.

Fear of what the future holds was never far from the minds of global justice campaigners in 2018. But the only way to build a better future is to organise and campaign – to light a candle rather than curse the darkness.

In 2018 we pulled out all the stops. As a result, together we’ve helped build extraordinary resilience – and made some significant progress. For that we should be really proud.

To remind ourselves of the amazing things we’ve done together and renew our energy for the year ahead, we’ve compiled a timeline of highlights from 2018 to share with you. We hope they show just how much we appreciate your continued support for Global Justice Now. They’re proof that by working together, we are changing things.

There are many dangers ahead. But we work together in organisations like Global Justice Now so we can face them together. We owe it to each other, and to our future, never to give up.

2018 in review

Thank you for making all of this possible.

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© David Mirzoeff

JANUARY

FEBRUARY © Guy Smallman

 Our supporters sent thousands of key-shaped action cards to the Department of Health demanding better access to medicines.

APRIL

 During a stunt, our campaigners presented members of the Scottish parliament with a huge letter demanding they back trade democracy.

 Our activists surprised the Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, at his surgery in Portishead dressed as chlorinated chickens.

 We helped advise on the Labour Party’s comprehensive new development policy.

This reflected key Global Justice Now demands.  Alongside activists around the world we stood up to the pharmaceutical giant, Novartis, demanding they stop bullying countries about drug pricing.

MAY

© Jess Hurd

 Activists from across the UK gathered in London for two days of action on trade democracy, including a walking tour, protest, a public meeting and a chance to lobby MPs.

MARCH

 More than 140 young people got together for our youth network’s annual gathering for a day of discussion, debate, activism and live performance.  Together with other migrants’ rights campaigners, we blocked the entrance to the Home Office in Westminster to demand an end to the hostile environment policy.

 We published a briefing on ‘e-commerce’ in new trade deals, showing the dangers of the digital aspects of trade.  We celebrated the Home Office’s announcement of the suspension of immigration checks on bank accounts, while pushing for a complete end to all hostile environment policies.

© David Mirzoeff

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JUNE  Along with Just Treatment we handed the Scottish minister for health our petition demanding that the government use international trade laws to make corporate giant Roche’s breast cancer drug more accessible.

JULY  We helped organise the Stop Trump demonstrations across the country as the US president arrived on his visit.  Together with Migrants Organise, we launched a campaign focusing on how MPs are contributing to the hostile environment by reporting constituents to immigration enforcement.  We launched our Internationalist Network for local groups to come together in the fight against global corporate power.

 We organised ‘Beyond Windrush – building the movement for migrants’ rights’, an event in London to support the wider migrants’ rights movement.

 We got tantalisingly close to securing trade democracy when our amendment to the Trade Bill was almost passed in parliament.

august  The Scottish government published a paper on Scotland’s role in future trade agreements, which included all our demands for trade democracy.  Thanks to thousands of people like you taking action, by August more than 100 MPs had signed our ‘MPs not Border Guards’ pledge.  Throughout the year lots of local groups ran stalls raising awareness about corporatecontrolled medicine. The groups used our game ‘The Price Isn’t Right’ to show how expensive medicines are.

september  We helped organise a mass lobby of MSPs to back a zero emission target in the Scottish Climate Change Bill.  Members of the House of Lords heard from over 67,000 campaigners who signed our joint petition calling for them to back trade democracy.  We helped bring organisations from around the world together at the Asia-Europe People’s Forum in Belgium. Our head of policy addressed 51 heads of state on behalf of the forum.  Together with partners from the global south and the National Education Union, we called on the UK to halt funding for Bridge International Academies, a profit-making company which runs schools in the global south.

october © Victoria Derbyshire BBC

 The BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire Show ran a feature highlighting our MPs Not Border Guards campaign.

november

 We held a packed-out meeting on trade, aid and arms control at the fringe of the SNP conference.  Our ground-breaking report ‘The People’s Prescription’ proposed solutions to tackle the corporate control of medicines by providing wellresearched alternatives. © Victor Barro/FOE International

 We participated in a week of global mobilisation around the UN Binding Treaty on Trans-National Corporations in Geneva, working to hold big business to account for human rights abuses.

 We held a national meeting on migration to bring together activists from across the country.

 We co-convened the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in London which gave migrants a platform to talk about their experiences, including violations of their rights.  We celebrated that the government scrapped data sharing between NHS Digital and the Home Office – a key part of the hostile environment.

december  For the last few years, we have mobilised to support the process for a UN Declaration of Rights for Small Farmers. In December, a committee of the UN General Assembly voted in favour of the declaration.  With allies we helped ensure that Liam Fox’s Trade Bill consultation had over 600,000 responses, making it the biggest government consultation ever.  We joined the UK climate march to demand that political leaders and decisionmakers take urgent action against climate change.

Trade that works for people and planet With the UK awash with the uncertainty of Brexit in 2018, the topic of trade deals was in the spotlight.

Trade deals have the power to shape what life will be like after Brexit; from the food we eat, to how the environment is treated. They also shape our impact on other countries.

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In 2018 the government brought forward its Trade Bill which would give the Trade Secretary, Liam Fox, the power to negotiate trade deals without the scrutiny of parliament. But thankfully, thousands of our activists were there to stand against this bill for making undemocratic trade deals.

Our director, Nick Dearden, gave evidence in parliament about the

dangers of undemocratic trade deals, and a parliamentary report from a select committee included our concerns multiple times. By working with allies we developed an amendment to the Trade Bill.

Throughout 2018, 67,000 of our campaigners wrote to their MPs to ask them to back this amendment. Caroline Lucas MP tabled the amendment and

when it came to a vote in the House of Commons it was only narrowly defeated by 30 votes. The next stage was to put pressure on the Lords to take a stand against the government and table another similar amendment.

Thanks to our supporters taking action in 2019, and our campaigners lobbying, that amendment was successfully passed.

Throughout the year our local groups and activists took action to raise awareness about the dangers of a US-UK trade deal. We conducted a poll that found up to 88% of Trade Secretary Liam Fox’s own constituents are opposed to US food standards being adopted after Brexit. Dressed as concerned ‘chlorinated’ chickens, we joined our Bristol group activists to personally deliver the poll to Liam Fox at his constituency surgery, adding to the pressure.

What next? ffFighting to get our amendment to the Trade Bill passed to secure trade democracy. ffOpposing a US-UK trade deal that threatens food standards, the environment and our public services. ffPushing for ‘corporate courts’ to be removed from trade deals, which allow big business to sue countries for millions if they make policy changes that threaten corporate profits.

© Jess Hurd

Activists and our campaigners in Scotland played a huge part in the fight for trade democracy by successfully getting the Scottish parliament to adopt our stance. In spring 2018 our Scottish campaigners gave evidence to parliamentary committees on why they should back trade democracy. And we put pressure on MSPs by writing them an open letter which became front page news. All this paid off. In August the Scottish government published a paper on Scotland’s role in future trade agreements, which included all our demands for trade democracy.

hand some of the NHS services over to American corporations, or mean chlorine-washed chicken in our shops.

In 2018, a post-Brexit trade deal with the US was high on our government’s agenda. If parliament doesn’t get a say on a US-UK trade deal, it could 9

Together for the right to move and the right to stay

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Poverty, inequality, war, climate change. All of these are reasons why people migrate or flee their homes. But they shouldn’t be.

against the government’s ‘hostile environment’ for migrants in the UK – policies designed to make life extremely difficult for migrants in the hope that they will leave the country.

pulled out of their data sharing deal with the Home Office. It was a huge victory for the movement against the government’s draconian policies against migrants.

We want a global economy that doesn’t force people to leave their homes. But also one that welcomes people who choose to. Your support has meant that we’ve made headway towards that vision. Last year we focused our energy on campaigning

Together, we helped to get parts of the government’s hostile environment suspended and even stopped. In April 2018, some elements of the data sharing between the Home Office and the Department of Education were scrapped and in November the NHS

We also got 129 MPs to sign our MPs Not Border Guards pledge, committing to not report constituents to the Home Office for immigration enforcement. The action followed new figures showing that MPs had reported members of the public over 700 times since 2012.

The campaign was also featured on the BBC’s Victoria Derbyshire show and across national newspapers. Thanks to people like you, we’re one step closer to ending the brutal and racist hostile environment policy altogether.

In November you helped us put the hostile environment ‘on trial’ at the Permanent People’s Tribunal. Together with 15 other organisations and the support of 50 others, we co-convened a panel of expert jurors to hear evidence submitted by policy experts and migrants directly affected by the hostile environment and systems of economic inequality. The tribunal was part of our work on issues around the causes of forced migration which we consider a social, political and economic justice issue.

What next? ffKeep challenging Theresa May’s hostile environment and exposing the cruelty of our immigration system. ffMaking migrant solidarity top of the agenda in fighting back against Trump’s divisive policies and mobilising for his state visit.

© David Mirzoeff

The Windrush scandal left people homeless, wrongly detained, denied their legal rights and threatened with deportation. In response, we organised ‘Beyond Windrush – building the movement for migrants’ rights’, an event to support the wider migrants’ rights movement. We brought together a coalition of migrant-led grassroots groups and campaigners to share what’s wrong with our immigration system and explore practical ways of taking action.

Together we also sent a powerful message to Donald Trump. As part of the Stop Trump coalition we took part in the ‘carnival of resistance’ attended by 250,000 people. We co-organised a migrant solidarity bloc which emphasised the continuities between Trump’s demonisation of migrants and Theresa May’s hostile environment policies. By showing solidarity with those marginalised groups who bear the brunt of Trump’s attacks, it sent a clear message to the UK government that we won’t accept the dangerous actions of the US president.

ffPublishing policy proposals for moving towards a global right to free movement for all.

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People before profits Across the world corporations are making huge profits at the expense of people’s lives and the environment around us.

This philosophy is particularly evident in the pharmaceutical industry. Sky-high prices mean that millions of people worldwide can’t access lifesaving medicines.

© David Mirzoeff

In 2018 we worked with the high-profile economist, Mariana Mazzucato, and

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our allies, STOPAIDS and Just Treatment, to produce a report on alternatives that prioritise patients’ needs rather than business profits. Our campaigners had several meetings with interested, influential politicians to push our alternatives forward.

Evidence emerged that major pharmaceutical company, Novartis had bullied Colombia to stop them from using their legal right to tackle high drug prices. Thousands of our supporters took action to call for an end to Novartis’s bullying. And we took part in a global stunt on the day of Novartis’s AGM. Similarly, we pushed for the Scottish government to make a breast cancer drug owned by the company Roche available on the NHS. Thanks to 5,000 supporters taking action to petition Nicola Sturgeon, we met with the Scottish health minister and handed over our demands.

Trans-national corporations repeatedly get away with human rights violations because there are few ways to hold them to account. We are part of the global campaign to bring about the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations. This would provide a universal legal means of holding big business to account. In 2018 we helped build a UK working group on the UN Binding Treaty and organised a week of mobilisation in Geneva. Almost 4,000 of you sent an email to Jeremy Hunt to encourage the UK government to positively engage in the negotiations.

What next? ffKeeping up dialogue with highprofile politicians interested in adopting our reforms. ffRunning an MP workshop to raise awareness about the impact of corporate-controlled medicines on patient access. ffPushing for parliamentary debates on our alternatives to get them taken forward.

Building a global movement No one organisation can bring about the kind of big changes we need to right the wrongs of the global economy. Challenging the powerful requires a global movement, but one which is able to take action in many localities.

Our activism support team helps connect our local groups and activists to a multitude of national and global allies so that the events and films they put on,

and the public campaigning they do, creates an effective push for change.

In 2018, thanks to the support of people like you, we were able to co-ordinate with many international groups at the Asia-Europe People’s Forum in Ghent, Belgium. The World We Want, our event in York held in collaboration with York Trade Justice, saw several hundred people discuss and be inspired by concrete examples of alternatives to neoliberalism.

In July we mobilised several hundred thousand people as part of the Stop Trump Coalition to oppose President Trump’s visit to the UK and his politics of hate.

Meanwhile, our local activists continue to oppose a US-UK trade deal around the country. The Bristol group even donned chlorinated chicken costumes to challenge the trade secretary in his constituency.

For once, the chickens got the Fox!

What next? ffSupporting our newly-launched climate justice network as an activistled hub for challenging the economic drivers of climate breakdown. ffAllowing activists to hear directly from allies in the global south both at events and through videos and webinars. ffTraining a new generation of activists in campaign skills through our thriving youth network.

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How we’re funded and how your donation is used With the uncertainty of Brexit and a rapidly changing world, we have to be responsive and flexible in our campaigns.

The backing of our members gives us this much needed stability in choppy waters. We’re also extremely thankful to those supporters who helped our campaigns by giving single donations, which have supported our work on trade, pharmaceuticals and more.

With 51% of our income coming from individual supporters, we have the independence to be outspoken and critical on the issues we care about.

36% of our funding came from carefully selected trusts and foundations, as well as a number of faith-based organisations, to which we are very grateful.

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We know that our supporters are passionate about campaigning for a more just world. That’s why we do our best to ensure most of our income goes towards creating change. In 2018, 74% of our spending went on our campaigns.

2% went towards our governance, making sure there’s democratic oversight of our organisation. And 24% was spent on fundraising to make sure there’s future income to keep our campaigns alive and strong.

Gifts in Wills keep our campaigns strong Gifts in Wills contributed significantly to our income in 2018. By leaving a donation to Global Justice Now, supporters can be sure that we’ll be here to fight for what they believe in in the future. Whether large or small, a gift in Will can make a difference to our campaign success. If you’re interested in leaving a gift to Global Justice Now in your Will, you can find out more at globaljustice.org.uk/leave-gift-your-will

“I am leaving Global Justice Now a gift in my Will because the work they do is of the greatest importance.

It is a long, hard battle we are embarked on – not just for ourselves, but for our children and grandchildren.”

Dr Chamberlain, Global Justice Now member and legacy pledger

Faith based organisations

Governance

Other donations from individuals

2% Fundraising

1%

Regular giving donations from individuals

17%

24%

34%

Other incomes

1%

Expenditure ÂŁ1,584,661

Income ÂŁ1,693,062

Grants (unrestricted)

Grants (restricted) Campaigns

74%

31%

Legacies

3%

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Voices from around the movement

Kate Osamor MP Former Shadow secretary of state for international development

Attac and Global Justice Now are part of an international movement.

Only through international solidarity can we bring about really big change.

Luciana Ghiotto Campaigner at ATTAC Argentina 16

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Global Justice Now has been instrumental in waking up parliament to the dangers of undemocratic trade and in mobilising public opinion so that my fellow MPs can’t fail to take notice.

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Global Justice Now has played a vital role in challenging the way aid has been misused – and pointing to ways it can become truly transformational.

Real democracy takes hard organising and clear analysis.

Global Justice Now works alongside some of the world’s most important social movements to challenge institutions like the World Bank, and to build genuinely just alternatives.

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Thanks to people like you we are able to do in-depth research to develop the demands of our campaigns.

It also means we can keep going to make progress for change and make lasting links with allies worldwide.

Because of our members’ support, politicians, academics, campaigners, writers and ordinary people from around the movement are willing to back us. You can hear from them here.

Raj Patel Author, activist and academic

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Global Justice Now’s campaign work is forthright, collaborative and creative – virtues not always present in our sector – and their contribution has been invaluable to advancing collective work and encouraging others already engaged in supporting migrants.

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Global Justice Now is a powerful voice for change in the UK. I’ve worked with its staff and activists for two decades challenging the unjust treatment of the global south by rich country governments, If you’re a Global Justice Now member, you’re part of a global movement for progressive change.

Akram Salhab Advocacy and campaigns officer at Migrants Organise

Francesca Martinez Comedian and writer

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I’ve been a member of Global Justice Now for many years. Its campaigns challenge the powerful and promote positive ideas for creating a world run for the benefit of the many and not the few. The work they do is brave, vital and I urge anyone who believes in equality, sustainability and human rights to support it too.

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Lidy Nacpil Jubilee South Asia Pacific .0

I love the fact that Global Justice Now is prepared to speak out about issues that really count. Far too many NGOs bite their tongues and are too cautious in my view about the really important stuff. But that never stops Global Justice Now. George Monbiot Journalist and author 17

Thank you for being part of the movement for change To find out more or ask a question, get in touch at: Global Justice Now, 66 Offley Road, London SW9 0LS 020 7820 4900 • offleyroad@globaljustice.org.uk • www.globaljustice.org.uk @GlobalJusticeUK

Global Justice Now

@globaljusticenow

Cover photos bottom left and right: © David Mirzoeff. All other photos by Global Justice Now, unless credited otherwise.

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