Thousands March In Hundreds Of Cities Demanding International Financial Overhaul Ahead Of UN Finance Conference

Scoop

a day ago

Thousands around the world are holding mobilizations in time for the 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4), a once-in-a-decade gathering of governments held under the auspices of the United Nations to agree on international responses to urgent finance issues. Movements, civil society groups, communities and publics are mobilizing in 41 countries, in 149 cities, towns, and districts from June 27th to June 29th.
The global actions are calling for a transformation of the international financial system, as well as immediate demands such as debt cancellation, wealth taxes, and the delivery of climate finance. Movements and civil society groups are challenging Global North governments and the UN system to take the lead in bridging the development and climate finance gap, estimated to be in the trillions. A core part of this is financial reparations for historical and continuing injustices inflicted by the Global North on the peoples of the Global South.
According to Jean Saldanha, director of EURODAD: 'The global financial architecture is dominated by rich countries and not responsive to the needs and priorities of the global south. It is in the interest of all of us, in the global south and north, to build a Financing for Development system that reduces inequality, provides stability and ensures adequate public finance for climate change. Yet the global north has chosen to defend an unjust status quo instead of seizing this opportunity to advance essential reforms that would give the global south a seat at the decision-making table. We in civil society will continue to demand this reform, before, in and after Sevilla.'
Civil society organizations and movements are reiterating the urgent demand for debt cancellation and calling for a UN Framework Convention on Debt Convention to pave the way for a democratic, multilateral and transparent mechanism to address unsustainable and illegitimate debt. They assert that it is vital to move away from creditor-dominated forums that have failed to prevent and resolve the accumulation of unsustainable and illegitimate debts, and have resulted in debt relief schemes that protect creditor interests. In 2022, developing countries paid USD 49 billion more to their external creditors than they received in fresh disbursements.
UN Member States are also being challenged by civil society to support and ensure a robust outcome from the negotiations for the UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, in order to effectively address international tax abuse, avoidance and evasion especially by multinational corporations and elites, which are resulting in losses in public revenues of at least USD 492 billion a year. Similarly, there is strong clamor for wealth taxes to help mobilize the trillions needed for sustainable development and climate action.
Dereje Alemayehu, executive coordinator of Global Alliance for Tax Justice, said: 'The international tax system is broken. Developed by the 'rich countries' club' of the OECD, it has failed to deliver the resources urgently needed for public services, development, human rights, gender equality, and climate justice. Tax abuse by the rich and multinational corporations has instead taken these resources, deepening the debt crisis faced by so many of our countries. Now, a historic process is underway as countries will meet in August to begin negotiations on a UN Tax Convention. We expect all UN Member States to negotiate in good faith to deliver a robust Framework Convention and two early protocols.'
In addition to debt service payments and tax abuse, developing countries' public coffers are being depleted by climate disasters. Developed countries that have historically caused the climate crisis are legally obligated by the UN Climate Convention to cover the costs of climate mitigation, adaptation, loss and damage and just transition in developing countries. Although developed countries have long claimed that they lack the public funds for climate finance, research has shown they can raise trillions by taxing polluters and profiteers, redirecting fossil fuel subsidies, and redistributing even just a fraction of their enormous military budgets. Civil society organizations and climate activities emphasize that climate finance must be delivered in the form of public, predictable, grants-based finance, instead of loans that will only exacerbate the already unsustainable debt crises in the developing world.
Tasneem Essop, executive director of Climate Action Network International, said: 'The world is on fire - and the systems meant to protect us are feeding the flames. The intersecting crises of debt, climate collapse, and inequality are not abstractions — they are lived realities for people in the Global South, every single day. While governments dither and elites profit, it's up to us to raise the alarm and demand justice. We will not stand by while wealth is siphoned from our communities, our land, our labour, to line the pockets of corporations and the ultra-rich. We will not be silenced.'
Aid cuts recently announced by the US, UK, and other Global North governments will also make it much harder for developing countries to address immediate financial needs arising from the multiple crises and undertake systems wide changes for a rapid, equitable and just transition to sustainable and climate resilient societies. Civil society groups are denouncing the cuts and asserting that aid must not be seen as charity but rather part of the reparations owed to the South.
Lidy Nacpil, the coordinator of the Asian Peoples' Movement on Debt and Development, said: 'What our world needs is a massive transfer of resources from North to South, as part of the reparations we are owed for historical injustice. For centuries, the people of the Global South have been exploited and our natural resources have been plundered–all to enrich the elites and governments of the Global North. Their enormous wealth was accumulated at the expense of our people and planet, and it is past time for them to pay up for the damage they've done.'
The different protest actions denounce the Global North governments for spending trillions on subsidies for fossil fuels, on wars and genocide, on militarization and domestic authoritarian operations while failing to deliver their financial obligations.
Bronwen Tucker, public finance lead of Oil Change International, said: "We're facing record-breaking cost-of-living, record-breaking fossil fuel production, and a record-breaking debt crisis. These problems are connected. They are all driven by a financial system that is catering to a tiny number of billionaires and CEOs. The only thing that can stop this is record-breaking people power. That is why we are on the streets today. At the last Financing for Development a decade ago, a UN Convention to rewrite tax rules was rejected, but now it has been won because of persistence from Global South governments and civil society. A UN Convention on debt is next. It's incredibly shortsighted for the EU, Canada, Japan, and UK to be blocking this."
Civil society has called for wider social transformation and a just transition to new modes of production, distribution, and consumption that prioritize peoples' needs over profit. To achieve this, the inequitable economic and political relations between countries must change, and the institutions that control global economic and financial governance must be transformed.
Patricia Miranda, global advocacy director of LATINDADD (Latin American Network for Economic, Social and Climate Justice): 'Debt is the greatest challenge for the Fourth Financing for Development Conference. As we face a new debt crisis trapped in a system that concentrates power in few hands, it is urgent to initiate real reform and lay the foundations for truly democratic governance. A UN Convention on Sovereign Debt, in which all countries have a voice, can deliver fair, sustainable and equitable solutions for all."
Jenny Ricks, general secretary of Fight Inequality Alliance:"We are living in the era of the billionaire, but this is also a time of a debt crisis. Across the Global South, people are not waiting for summits to create a just world — we are on the streets to demand it. Governments need to hear the urgent cries for systemic changes like debt cancellation and taxes on the super rich, not cosmetic tweaks.'
Ingo Ritz, director of Global Call to Action Against Poverty: 'As a European I am ashamed. In the FfD4 negotiations the EU - together with other rich countries - blocked the proposals from the global south to solve the global debt and financing crisis. These northern governments are defending the status quo - an international financial architecture that protects the interests of big corporations. Billions of people are suffering under austerity and conditionalities of IMF and World Bank that cut public services, increase inequality and create poverty and hunger. To ensure health, education and social protection for all we need a transformed financial international architecture.'
Absolom Jim, chapter lead of Debt for Climate: 'The FFD4 process has proved a façade, another Global North-sponsored theatre where the debt noose around our necks is tightened under the disguise of false solutions. Zimbabwe and much of Africa are not asking for charity, we're demanding system change. We reject debt swaps, delays, and greenwashed gimmicks. The time for compromise is over. The world must hear this from Africa: cancel the debt and dismantle colonial finance.'
Petro Damian, chapter lead of Debt for Climate: 'Africa is rich in people, culture, and resources yet trapped in debt it did not create. We demand the cancellation of illegitimate debt and the creation of a fair financial system that allows our continent to thrive, not just survive.'
Arjun Bhattarai, co-chair of Global Call to Action Against Poverty: 'We need to halt the debt crisis and prevent it from occurring again. Economic Justice is the key to ending poverty, reducing inequalities and solving the climate crisis.'