Under the pretext of economic development and employment, the largest countries have not given up the idea of signing the Multilateral Agreement on Investment ( MAI) which gives all rights to investors and would impose all duties on the state. Thanks to the pressure of public opinion and militant mobilisation, they were forced to abandon their project of negotiating this agreement under the auspices of the OCDE but the discussions are to due to restart in the framework of the World trade Organisation . At the same time the USA and also the European Commission, are continuing their free trade crusade pushing for the creation of new uncontrolled zones, at continental or intercontinental levels ( project of Transcontinental Economic Partnership, TEP, between Europe and North America). “ Shortening the delays, shortening the distances, removing borders : but for who ? ( …) The abolition of space, time and borders will certainly create a global village, but all the individuals cannot be part of it. The world elite don’t often encounter borders, but for billions of human beings, the borders are often just as impermeable.“ (World report on Human Development. PNUD 1999)

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Fusion’s and acquisitions create enormous groups which compete with states by their size whilst causing massive layoffs which perturb the lives of numerous families and menace the stability of entire societies. These multinational enterprises accumulate all fields of human activity under the simple pretext of immediate profit. The principal of life itself, but also that of water, indispensable natural resource, does not escape them putting in peril the foundations of human existence for the whole planet. With the benediction of increasingly more “ realistic” states commerce and finance overrun citizens using the opportunity to reform, in their style, all national and international functions in almost perfect obscurity and without the slightest consultation of the civilian society. This is the dictate of the markets. “ In the past ten years we have seen a concentration of revenues, of resources and riches between a small number of people , companies and countries “(World report on Human Development. PNUD 1999)

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These “ paradises”, for the fiscal advantages that they procure for their clients , but also the banking secrecy and judicial immunity that they assure, play an essential role in the globalisation of criminal financial activities. These generate enormous profits which can then be used to destabilise industrial or financial economic sectors , and even counter national or international policies. Criminal organisations and activities use and abuse the diverse legislative systems , rules and laws. They can hence prosper outside the common laws reserved for licit activities. “ Globalisation has created attractive new possibilities , but , amongst those that are reaping the greatest benefits and that are the most imaginative and entrepreneurial , the criminal community of the entire world hold a place near the top “(World report on Human Development. PNUD 1999)

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1- Tax Havens: Releasing the Hidden Billions for Poverty Eradication