IT for Change, along with other civil societies advocated on a number of critical issues regarding the UNCTAD XV held from 3-7th October, 2021 in Barbados.
These statements, few of many sent to member states at a crucial moment of discussion by civil societies managed to leverage pressure and improve on the nature of the mandate documents being negotiated.
Letter on UNCTAD XV Mandate's Language on Data Flows & Multistakeholderism
Date- 18th September, 2021.
IT for Change and the Just Net Coalition sent a letter to the G77 on the extremely problematic language on (1) ‘data flows’ and (2) ‘multistakeholder approach’ to digital policy in the UNCTAD mandate being negotiated.
IT for Change maintained that the language of 'data flows' and 'multistakeholderism' being employed had earlier been consistently rejected by developing countries at numerous occasions at global forums. It, therefore, asserted that this language simply could not find entry into international agreement and legitimacy through the proposed UNCTAD document.
Read the entire letter here.
Civil Society Declaration for UNCTAD XV
Date- 30th September, 2021
The civil society organizations and networks that engaged in the preparatory process of
the Fifteenth Session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
(UNCTAD XV) and participated in the Civil Society Forum, which was held in Barbados
from 22 to 24 September 2021, issued a declaration outlining reflections, aspirations and
deliberations on the role of UNCTAD in the coming four years in the context of the current
extremely challenging conjuncture.
Find out more about IT for Change's contribution at the Civil Society Forum for UNCTAD15 held from 22nd to 24th September, hosted by the Caribbean Policy Development Centre here.
Gender Justice Requires a Broad Mandate for UNCTAD
Statement on the 3 September draft of the Bridgetown Covenant
Date: 17th September, 2021.
This statement came from the Gender and Trade Coalition, a feminist alliance of civil society organizations around the world advocating for trade justice. Initiated in 2018, the Coalition now has over 300 members who represent a growing solidarity towards analyzing and opposing the neoliberal instrumentalization of women’s rights as a tool to facilitate the free flow of capital, resources, and labor.
The Gender and Trade Coalition called on UN Member States to:
- Restore the primacy of gender justice over the economic goals of trade and investment policies
- Ensure the inclusive and transparent participation of a broad group of stakeholders, including women’s groups, in trade policy and agreement negotiations
- Ensure trade policy measures take a gender mainstreaming perspective
- UNCTAD is able to function from a broad mandate in which the international debt and tax structure and the ongoing digital transformation of the global economy are discussed in relation to trade policy
And in that regard suggests specific recommendations to the draft negotiating text of the UNCTAD's mandate for its future agenda.
Read the complete statement here.