Global Justice Now Annual Review 2019

Contents A message from our director

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What we did in 2019

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Campaiging for trade that works for people and planet

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Mobilising around the climate emergency

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Pushing alternatives to corporate-controlled medicines

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Stopping UK aid being spent on big business

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Supporting migrants’ rights

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Building activism for young people 14 Campaign talks and workshops

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How we’re funded

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A message from our director

This year, with the world in crisis, Global Justice Now turns 50.

We were born at a time of hope.

Freed from the chains of empire, governments and movements in Africa, Asia and Latin America were refusing to allow political control over their countries to be replaced by economic control. They were fighting the corporate dominance, trade rules, financial systems, even ‘aid’ projects, which were simply empire by another name – perpetuating poverty, inequality and injustice.

My predecessors challenged these injustices, and gave solidarity to those fighting for a better world. They saw that charity would never be sufficient.

Only by engaging in political action – campaigning, protesting, educating and building a movement – could we win real change. We have been on the frontline of some of the most iconic campaigns, championing causes that seemed obscure and turning them into mainstream victories.

Today, we face a world full of fear, danger and uncertainty. We can hardly claim to have solved all of our planet’s problems. But that shouldn’t detract from the incredible victories we’ve won. We’re still learning, adapting and incorporating new ideas into our work. But our purpose remains the same: to build a movement of people around a vision of international justice and equality.

So despite the Covid-19 crisis, I hope you’ll feel proud of what we’ve achieved together over this last year, and remember that a movement like ours is important precisely because it can inspire hope and action in the face of seemingly insurmountable adversity.

We have always come together to demand the impossible. It’s the only way to get really significant change.

Sometimes we have won. And together, we will win again.

Nick Dearden Director of Global Justice Now

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What we did in 2019 Fought for fairer and more democratic post-Brexit trade deals

Raised awareness for climate justice

Worked to stop UK aid going to big business Pushed for alternatives to corporate-controlled medicines

Exposed the harsh hostile environment immigration policies

Worked for corporate accountability in international law Grew our youth network and backed our local groups and activists pushing forward our campaigns

January

February

 We scored a big win in the fight for more democratic trade processes with the House of Lords securing an amendment to the Trade Bill, which we were pushing for. The government dropped the bill, but we’ll keep fighting for parliament to have more of a say on trade.  Together with 19 other organisations we stood against the EU Withdrawal Bill which would extend the government’s hostile environment and curtail EU nationals’ freedom of movement.

 Two colleagues went to Cote D’Ivoire to meet campaigners from across Africa trying to stop the expansion of private schools which are funded

by UK aid. Their accounts informed our aid campaign.  Authors Ann Pettifor and Jason Hickel joined us for our popular conference on ‘degrowth’, about how changes to our economic system can tackle the climate crisis.

March

April

 The youth activist group Our Future Now, which is part of our youth network, organised the popular event ‘Freedom of Movement’. It brought together many youth activists to learn about the UK’s harsh immigration policies, and what open borders could look like.

 Our youth activists came together for workshops and talks on our campaigns as part of our youth network conference ‘We Rise’.

 We joined the WHO Fairpricing Forum in Johannesburg where we called for greater transparency around the cost of research, development and production of medicines.

May

June  ‘The Real Trade War’ was one of our biggest events, drawing over 120 to Birmingham for workshops and talks looking at corporate power and trade deals. Speakers included Gyekye Tanoh formerly from the Third World Network Africa, and Pia Eberhardt from the Corporate Europe Observatory.

 ‘A Conversation with Gary Younge’ talking about borders, migration and the global economy, was a hugely successful, packed out event.

The discussion with the high profile journalist introduced new people to the issues we campaign on and the idea of freedom of movement.  We worked to raise awareness among MPs from all parties about the injustice of corporatecontrolled medicines, and get them behind fair alternatives, by running a workshop in parliament.

 While US president Donald Trump was visiting the UK, our activists and staff joined the protest in London dressed up as chickens, to stand against the US-UK trade deal. The eye-catching group highlighted how this trade deal would bring chlorinated chicken to our shelves and gained a lot of media coverage.

July  We helped organise the Asia Europe People’s Forum Conference on democracy and human rights in Kuala Lumpur.

 We produced a documentary, ‘More precious than gold’, telling the story of communities resisting a toxic gold mine and the attempts of the mining company, Lydian, to use ‘corporate courts’ to bully the Armenian government into putting an end to the protests.

This followed an earlier solidarity trip.

August  Our youth group Our Future Now held their first book club, with a reading on ‘eco-fascism’.

They’ve since looked at topics including feminism, degrowth and orientalism.

September  The Labour Party adopted our proposals for alternative ways of producing medicines.  Hundreds of people visited our pop-up exhibition in Edinburgh ‘Together We Are Powerful’, showing the recent history of grassroots activism.  By campaigning alongside our allies we got the Scottish parliament to pass legally binding targets for Scotland to reduce its carbon emissions by 75% by 2030, and 100% by 2045.

October November  We joined the Week of People’s Mobilisation for the UN Binding Treaty on Transnational Corporations and Human Rights to influence and follow the five day negotiation process.

December  Before the general election we pushed our campaign issues forward in the debate, and showed where the parties stand on them.

 During the general election campaign, we exposed the threats posed to the NHS and drug prices by a US-UK trade deal.

Our report findings made the front page of the Daily Mirror.  In the run up to the general election, the Labour Party adopted our recommendations for changing CDC, the government’s development bank, so it can be used for good.

 To expose the dodgy US-UK trade deal, we launched the ‘Trump in your trolley’ campaigner pack. Activists used the pack in supermarkets to show how the trade deal will impact our food.

Campaigning for trade that works for people and planet Modern trade deals can affect everything from food standards to public services.

Since the Brexit referendum we’ve campaigned tirelessly for parliament and the public to have a say on trade deals and thousands of you supported

our demands. In early 2019 parliament amended the Trade Bill, introducing democratic processes to scrutinise trade policy. This was a huge step in the right direction, but scared of being defeated, the government later dropped the bill. We’re keeping up the pressure for a democratic process.

With the help of our supporters donating to our crowd funder we launched a legal challenge to the government over its failure to disclose details of its post-Brexit trade meetings. Under pressure, the most the Department for International Trade was prepared to release was almost entirely blacked-out documents.

An incredible 70,000 people supported our campaign against a US-UK deal Part of our trade campaign involved working with trade campaigners across Europe to end ‘corporate courts’, a parallel legal system written into trade and investment deals that allows big corporations to sue governments for millions. Across Europe over 900,000 people signed petitions rejecting corporate courts and speaking out together.

The papers, some of which were eventually leaked in unredacted form in the run up to the general election, made huge waves in the media and gave our campaign an unprecedented amount of exposure.

As part of our work on corporate courts, we went on a solidarity trip to Amulsar in Armenia to meet local activists fighting against UK registered mining company Lydian. The mining company has been using the corporate court mechanism to bully Armenia

into allowing its goldmine to operate and to forcefully remove protesters blockading the mine. Almost 6,000 supporters emailed Lydian International’s CEO asking for the company to drop their plans for a corporate court case against the Armenian government.

What next? ffContinue to mobilise the public to oppose a US-UK trade deal. ffRaise awareness of the impact of trade deals on the climate crisis.

Boris Johnson has made it clear that a trade deal with the US is a top priority.

This would be a particularly high-risk deal. When US president Donald Trump announced visits to the UK in June and December, activists got ready to join the protests. Dressed as chlorinated chickens we sent a strong message opposing the deal and ruffling feathers in the media. An incredible 70,000 people signed our petition to stop the deal.

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By working with our allies we got a target of zero emissions by 2045 made law in Scotland

Mobilising around the climate emergency With wildfires out of control, icecaps melting, and increased drought and flooding worldwide, we desperately need meaningful action on climate change.

The majority of people having to face the impacts of climate change are in the global south. Any action must take this injustice into account. That isn’t to say people aren’t feeling the effects in the north too, and it’s those with fewer resources to fall back on who are hit the hardest.

In 2019 we saw a surge of energy for change, with millions of people taking to the streets worldwide. Our staff and activists in Scotland called for cuts to emissions, along with our allies, and took part in a mass lobby, emailed MSPs, and held stunts outside Holyrood.

Together we celebrated getting the Scottish parliament to pass a law setting a target of net zero emissions by 2045, and a reduction of 75% by 2030.

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This was an important step in the global effort for change and put pressure on the UK government to do the same.

After the establishment of our activist-led climate justice network, our members then voted at our AGM for us to do more work on climate change.

We listened, and have led the way in showing how trade deals can threaten government action on climate change, and aid spending is backing fossil fuel extraction.

What next? ffKeep working with our allies to ensure the Scottish government delivers its climate plan. ffHold an event on the links between trade and climate change. ffPush for action on climate change at the COP in Glasgow.

The Labour Party adopted our proposals for how to fairly and publicly produce medicines

Pushing alternatives to corporate-controlled medicines Over the decades, the power and wealth of big business has rocketed, meaning that when it comes to vital resources like water, food and housing, profit is being put ahead of people and the environment.

The injustice of this is perhaps most stark in the pharmaceutical industry. Millions of people around the world can’t access the medicines they need because big business is charging eye-watering prices.

Post-Brexit trade deals were a hot topic in 2019. With Donald Trump looking to include the NHS in a US-UK trade deal, we had to expose the risks. We published a report on how the proposed US-UK trade deal would damage the NHS with aggressive privatisation and even higher medicine prices.

What next? ffKeep exposing the threats a US-UK trade deal poses to the NHS. ffBuild support among different political parties for fairer ways of producing medicines. ffFight for equal access to any new coronavirus vaccine and to stop big business monopolising it.

Here at Global Justice Now we fight unjust systems like this, but we also push for positive alternatives. Last year we published a report on what democratic, public ownership of medicines could look like. We celebrated when these proposals were adopted and promoted by the Labour Party. This meant that campaigners across the world could look to the Labour Party’s policies as alternatives to push in their countries.

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Working with global allies we exposed how UK aid money is funding private education which is failing pupils

Stopping UK aid being spent on big business You might think that UK aid would be spent on things that reduce inequality. Instead our government is putting money into expanding big business worldwide.

It’s estimated that the global education market is worth $5 trillion.

Our government has put millions of aid money into private education in the global south. Along with the National Education Union we published a report exposing how these schools are seriously failing children, all because they’re putting profit first.

In February last year two of our staff went to Côte d’Ivoire to meet campaigners across countries in Africa who are fighting back against these schools. Their firsthand experiences informed our campaign and meant we could raise awareness about the impact on children among the public and MPs. Four thousand supporters signed our online petition calling for an end to aid money being spent on private schools.

CDC Group is the government’s international development bank, and shockingly funds profitable overseas projects like luxury hotels and malls. Last year we put together a briefing showing how CDC could work for people and planet. The Labour Party adopted our recommendations, which was a huge success in strengthening opposition to our government’s profit-oriented approach to aid.

What next? ffFocus on campaigning to end all UK aid going to fossil fuel projects. ffCo-ordinate with allies for international action on a chain of aid funded private schools.

We continued to oppose the hostile environment for migrants, which remains in force despite efforts to re-brand it

Supporting migrants’ rights We continue to stand up for migrants’ rights and to work towards a world where the right to stay and the right to move is no longer a passport lottery.

Over 30,000 people have supported our call to end the UK’s hostile environment since we launched our petition. And along with our allies, we developed a toolkit for Global Justice Now activists to help campaign against detention centres.

In May we hosted an evening with award winning author, broadcaster and columnist Gary Younge. He explained how the issues we see today, with the Windrush generation and the hostile environment, aren’t an accident but are part of a system rigged against people in the global south and people of colour.

We ran training sessions on how to have ‘difficult conversations about migration’, supporting activists to confidently engage their communities. As part of the steering committee of the Permanent People’s Tribunal on Migration we co-organised a picket in front of the Home Office to mark International Migrants Day.

What next? ffContinue to roll out our ‘Having difficult conversations about migration’ workshops. ffPublish policy proposals based on our research on global free movement.

To defeat the world of borders, hierarchy and nationalism envisioned by the far right, we need to start imagining the world we want, one that puts global justice at its heart and where violent borders are a distant memory. Together with our activists and supporters we’re working towards this new vision. Our new report showcases a world where everyone enjoys equal rights to move freely around the globe.

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We engaged young people across the country in our campaigns and they helped push them forward

Building activism for young people Young people around the world are facing a difficult and uncertain future, from the climate emergency to more precarious work.

It’s essential that we support young activists in our movements, to keep fighting for a more just world and call out the failings of the past.

At Global Justice Now we have an activist network that’s specifically for young people, and in 2019 they did a lot to raise awareness and engagement around our campaigns.

In April last year our youth network organised ‘We Rise’ in London, an event looking at climate change and colonialism, solidarity with migrants, free trade deals and more.

With discussion, creative workshops, live performances and movement building, the event helped to connect young people with different grassroots groups and grow the movement for justice and equality in the UK. One of our youth groups called Our Future Now also organised an event in London about migration and exploring freedom of movement which helped to build the migrants’ rights movement.

What next? ffHelp young people push for radical change around the climate emergency, including getting youth activists to the COP26 climate talks. ffKeep growing our youth network by supporting groups across the country.

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Campaign talks and workshops Throughout 2019 our staff raised awareness about our campaigns through talks and workshops, many of which were organised and hosted by our network of local groups. We are extremely grateful to our groups for all their work in 2019 to push our campaigns forward.

Stirling Global Justice Now campaigns Glasgow Climate justice UN binding treaty for corporations US-UK trade deal Irvine Corporate-controlled medicines Manchester US-UK trade deal Youth network migration workshop Liverpool Climate justice workshop Youth network activism workshop Climate justice workshop Stoke-on-Trent Birmingham Debt and global inequality Youth network hostile environment workshop Climate justice Newport Trade deals Cardiff

Edinburgh York

Global Justice Now campaigns

Climate justice workshop

Sheffield Climate justice workshop Climate change Difficult conversations about migration Cambridge

Two talks on climate change The UN binding treaty for corporations

Norwich

Climate change

London Alternatives to corporate-controlled medicines Nine climate justice workshops Three talks on climate change Two difficult conversations about migration workshops Direct action training for young people Internationalism Social change and activism Four talks on the UN binding treaty for corporations Bristol Brighton

Migration and the hostile environment Climate justice workshop

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How we’re funded 2019 was again a year full of change, with continuing Brexit uncertainty and a general election keeping us on our toes.

The support of our loyal members and donors meant we could respond to the changes and ensure our campaigns had the biggest impact possible.

Thank you. We simply couldn’t do this without you.

Over 74% of our income in 2019 came from individual supporters as regular donations, one-off gifts or gifts in wills, ensuring that we remain independent and true to our mission, never watering down our campaigns.

We are extremely grateful for the generous contributions from trusts, foundations and faith groups, who enabled us to make fantastic progress with our campaigns.

No matter how uncertain the future feels right now, it gives us a huge amount of hope and motivation to know that together with our supporters we will, step by step, change things for the better.

On behalf of everyone at Global Justice Now, thank you.

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Leaving a gift in your will Legacy donations contributed to17% of Global Justice Now’s income in 2019. Leaving a gift in your will, whether large or small, means you’re helping to make sure we’ll be here to fight for what you believe in. If you’re interested in leaving a gift in your will to Global Justice Now, you can find out more by visiting globaljustice.org.uk/leave-gift-your-will

“I have decided to leave a legacy to Global Justice Now in my will because I believe that they really do take active steps towards a more just and equal world and I want to be a part of that.

I’ve been a regular giver by direct debit for decades during my lifetime and it’s good to be able to extend that a bit with a small legacy. Every bit counts!”

Gwen Backwell Global Justice Now member and legacy pledger

How we spend our income The majority of our income (71%) is put into campaigning for change.

27% is invested in fundraising activities to ensure we can continue to work towards a better future. A small amount (2%) goes towards our governance.

2%

27%

19%

Governance

Grants (restricted)

Fundraising

2%

Faith based organisations

2%

39%

Regular giving donations from individuals

Grants (unrestricted)

Expenditure ÂŁ1,411,555

Income ÂŁ1,493,325 17%

Legacies

3%

71%

Campaigns These figures for 2019 have not yet been audited due to delays relating to Covid-19.

Other incomes

18%

Other donations from individuals

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

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Photo: Mídia NINJA CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

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