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Data visualisation of automatic financial account information exchange (for Financial Transparency Coalition, Oct 2017)

Over the past ten years I have conducted research and fieldwork in Sudan (Darfur and Blue Nile), South Sudan, the Central African Republic, Germany, Guinea, India, Iraq, Ireland, Nigeria, northern Kenya, northern Mali, Niger, Libya, Somalia, Uganda, the UAE, Ukraine, the UK, Zambia, and several southeast Asian countries.

Recent work has included:

  • Documenting conflict weapons, ammunition and IEDs for the European Council’s iTrace project in South Sudan (central and southern Unity State, Upper Nile, Western Equatoria), the Central African Republic (Bangui, Bambari, Bria), Iraq (Mosul/Nineveh), Mali (Gao, Tombouctou, Sévaré), Niger, Nigeria, Somalia (Mogadishu, Galmudug) and Southeast Asia (various) [establishing the first public, global and real-time database of field-documented conflict weapons; plus various co-authored publications]

for Conflict Armament Research

  • An investigation of air cargo companies implicated in illicit arms trafficking in sub-Saharan Africa [non-public report]

for the Département des Affaires Stratégiques (DAS) du Ministère de la Défense de France, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), and Groupe de Recherche et d’Information sur le Paix et la Sécurité (GRIP)

  • Investigating the financialisation of the European care home sector – including a study of offshore structures used for property arbitrage by Europe’s largest for-profit social care provider, and its effects on the availability of funds for care and staff. First report here (French and English)

for the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR), Confédération Française Démocratique du Travail (CFDT) and Confédération Générale du Travail (CGT)

  • Casework for strategic war crimes litigation: locating evidence and potential witnesses for a criminal complaint in an EU country regarding individuals allegedly supplying the means for the commission of international crimes in an African country (secondary liability). The work has initiated a full police investigation and a prosecution strategy, which is ongoing.

with Amnesty International (International Secretariat) and independent counsel

  • Unequal Exchange: mapping inequalities in the global coverage of automatic financial account information exchange – a key tool against money laundering and tax evasion, to which many countries are denied access [data visualisation and notes. Data here (xls).]

for the Financial Transparency Coalition

  • Irish fiscal ‘spillovers’: a quantitative and conceptual review of the Irish government’s 2015 ‘all clear’ health check of its tax regime’s global impact, using new data on international investment stocks and trade in services. The project also revealed new tax structures — such as the “Single Malt” — already being put in place by Microsoft and other MNCs in response to the new rules [two papers]. (On 21 June 2018 the Irish parliamentary committee on Foreign Affairs and Trade held a dedicated hearing on the project’s reports: video here).

for Christian Aid Ireland

Vehicle Identification Number, abandoned APC, Gwit-Bentiu road, May 2014
  • Corporate tax responsibility: a new propositional policy framework for corporate tax behaviour, generated by a policy consultation process I facilitated with three international NGOs and Big Four/FTSE100 private-sector representatives [two publications]

for ActionAid UK, Christian Aid and Oxfam GB

  • Brits Abroad: an ongoing project examining the role of UK nationals and companies in the global marketplace for ‘conflict expertise’, and documenting their regulatory and risk-related challenges [first report here]

an independent project financed by the Joseph Rowntree Charitable Trust

  • Arms in Darfur: a short research project seeking to understand the decade-long failure of the arms embargo and airstrike prohibitions on Darfur, from global military supply chains to the closed-door politics of the UN Security Council [two publications]

for the Small Arms Survey’s Sudan Human Security Baseline Assessment

  • A review of Denmark’s tax treaties with Majority World countries [publication]

for Mellemfolkeligt Samvirke / ActionAid Denmark

  • Quantitative and policy research on UK private equity taxation and the UK government’s 2015 budgets [briefing note]

for 38 Degrees