05-07-2025
Civil society leaves UN development summit feeling unheard
Still, certain initiatives — such as an alliance to tax the super-rich or plans to slap new levies on premium and private-jet flying — were widely celebrated among CSOs.
Their main complaint was a lack of access, with accusations ranging from difficulties obtaining accreditations to exclusion from key negotiations, prompting CSO delegates to hold a protest at the conference's venue on its final day.
"We've witnessed an unprecedented wave of restrictions and lack of attention to the voice of civil society," Oyebisi Babatunde Oluseyi, executive director of the Nigeria Network of NGOs, told Reuters, adding a new mechanism was needed to insert their perspective into global decision-making.
UN deputy secretary-general Amina Mohammed acknowledged CSOs' grievances in Thursday's closing press briefing and said the UN would endeavour to "expand the space" for them.
"The UN was built to defend human rights — if it cedes to the global trend of shrinking civic space, it'll undermine its legitimacy," said Hernan Saenz of Oxfam International.
In a joint declaration on Sunday, the CSOs denounced the international financial system as unjust and called for its "complete overhaul".
Despite the pervasive discontent, all CSO representatives interviewed by Reuters said they ultimately believed in the UN system.
Hirotaka Koike, a board member at the Japan NGO Center for International Cooperation, said he did so because it was the only place where all countries were treated equally.
"Yes, there are bureaucracies. Yes, there are a lot of processes. But what else do we have?"
Reuters
