Social Activists Demand Global Economic Justice at the Seville Conference
Social activists demanding global economic justice, Sevilla, Spain, July, 2025. X/ @SID_INT
July 4, 2025 Hour: 2:56 pm
They call for an end to the injustices inflicted by developed countries on the peoples of the Global South.
After four days of deliberations in Spain, the United Nations’ 4th International Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) concluded on Thursday with the adoption of the “Seville Commitment.”
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This UN-related gathering brought together about 60 heads of state, more than 200 delegates from member countries, representatives of various multilateral organizations, business leaders, and members of civil society groups.
Rebeca Grynspan, the secretary of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), described the roadmap as “a strong document” with “more practical solutions” that will enable “better implementation.”
Regarding short-term challenges, the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) warned that the goals of the 2030 Agenda cannot be met without closing an annual sustainable development funding gap of US$650 billion.
This is the minimum amount required by Latin American countries—most classified as middle-income—to implement concrete actions toward achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The text reads, “Social movements worldwide took to the streets of Seville yesterday to make our voices heard at the UN summit. We demand a change in the global financial system with environmental, anti-war, and feminist measures and the achievement of true equality of rights.”
During the Seville Conference, dozens of civil society organizations, trade unions, movements and networks from around the world mobilized to demand that governments take tangible steps to ensure the “Seville Commitment” becomes a true instrument of economic justice.
“The action held inside one of the conference halls also comes as an attempt to make civil society’s presence felt despite ongoing hurdles to meaningfully engage in the process,” said the Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism in a public statement.
“They called out the failure of the outcome document to rise to the level of ambition needed to address the interconnected and systemic crises the world currently faces, denouncing the lack of political will to embrace bold reforms, particularly by Global North countries, which continue to protect undemocratic institutions where they hold the decision-making power.”
Civil society groups in Seville also emphasized the urgency of canceling external debt in the poorest countries, advancing global climate justice, and establishing a U.N. Tax Convention and a U.N. Debt Convention.
“A core part of these calls is a demand for democratization of global economic governance and financial reparations for historical and continuing injustices inflicted by the Global North on the peoples of the Global South,” they stressed.
teleSUR/ JF
Sources: EFE – Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism