ABSTRACT
Addressing tax-related illicit financial flows (IFFs) from the Least Developed Countries (LDCs) is a quintessential human rights issue. With nearly three quarters of LDCs located in sub-Saharan Africa – the region that is now home to the vast majority of people in extreme poverty loses more in IFFs than it receives in foreign aid and direct investment. African LDCs face systemic barriers in accessing the international tax cooperation needed to administer and enforce revenue laws against those who illicitly transfer income and capital offshore. A decade on from the Maastricht Principles, this chapter argues that there is diminishing space for States implicated in the regulation of offshore wealth management to claim they are not subject to international human rights law obligations requiring them to take the necessary steps to prevent domestic private actors from facilitating the concealment of tax-related IFFs that drain scarce public revenues from the most vulnerable countries.
