As the Fourth International Conference on Financing for
Development approaches, slated for late June in Seville, Spain, calls are
mounting to reconsider the prevailing global model for development financing.
This comes amidst a widening gap between the ethical rhetoric promoted by
wealthy nations in support of sustainable development and human rights, and the
actual practices that continue to entrench the financial and political
dependency of countries in the Global South.
اضافة اعلان
The conference is taking place at a time when major Western
powers are exhibiting stark double standards — championing development,
international law, and human rights in rhetoric, while simultaneously
supporting the Israeli occupation and its ongoing aggression against the
Palestinian people. These powers continue to turn a blind eye to
well-documented war crimes and acts of genocide in Gaza and the West Bank, and
supported its war on Iran. At the same time, they are retreating from their
global development obligations.
Although they pledged in 2015 to allocate 0.7%
of their Gross National Income to official development assistance, actual
disbursements have consistently fallen short — not exceeding 0.35% — and much
of the aid provided has been politically conditional, used more as a lever of
influence than a genuine instrument of global solidarity.
It has become evident that we are witnessing the end of the
era of voluntary grants and the beginning of a new phase in which financial
tools are increasingly being used to perpetuate geopolitical control.
International financial institutions continue to promote an economic model
rooted in austerity policies, expansion of public debt, and the privatization
of public services—all of which erode the capacity of developing countries to
fund essential sectors such as healthcare, education, and social protection.
This results in these countries becoming hostage to debt burdens and the
conditionalities imposed by creditors and their agents.
This shift is not merely a reduction in available resources;
it is, at its core, a direct undermining of the right to development and the
sovereignty of Global South nations over their own economic and social choices.
It imposes an externally driven economic paradigm that disregards national
priorities and fundamental rights.
In response to this unjust reality, a shared narrative is
emerging — one in which the Group of 77 countries and global networks of human
rights and development-oriented civil society organizations find their
objectives increasingly aligned around the need for a fundamental
transformation of the international financial system, anchored in the principle
of justice in financing development. Among their common demands is a call for
the ratification of the United Nations Framework Convention on International
Tax Cooperation, seen as a crucial tool to combat tax evasion and recover
misappropriated resources.
The coalition also calls for the rejection of
austerity-driven economic policies, which have demonstrably failed to reduce
poverty and unemployment, and advocates for establishing new rules for global
economic governance based on transparency, democracy, and respect for human
rights. Furthermore, it seeks the development of binding standards for blended
finance to ensure accountability, prevent forced privatization of public
services, and protect public goods, while simultaneously advancing efforts to restructure
sovereign debt—including the cancellation of illegitimate debts—based on the
principle of common but differentiated responsibilities, and securing fair and
sustainable financing for development and climate action.
The Seville Conference must not be reduced to technical
discussions on financing mechanisms. Rather, it should be seized as a historic
opportunity to reintroduce the question of international economic justice and
to reclaim the voice of the Global South in shaping the future of development
and its financing. The success of the conference depends on the ability of
developing countries and global civil society to impose an alternative
agenda—one grounded in rights, not conditions; in partnership, not dependency;
and in equality, not paternalism.
Aid is not a favor granted by the rich to the poor. It is a
legitimate entitlement, rooted in historical and colonial responsibilities that
allowed the Global North to accumulate wealth at the expense of the South. If
the era of grants is nearing its end, then the era of dignity and justice must
begin—and it will only begin through an organized, collective effort led by the
nations and peoples of the Global South, and supported by all advocates of
economic justice and human rights worldwide.
