On Sunday, June 29, 2025, activists marched in sweltering heat through Seville, Spain, ahead of a UN summit on financing development. They demanded debt cancellation, climate justice, and higher taxes for the super-rich, criticizing the upcoming summit as lacking ambition.
Concerns Ahead of UN Summit
This decennial, four-day meeting aims to address poverty, disease, and climate change by outlining a global development framework. However, the United States’ withdrawal and a diminishing interest in foreign aid from wealthy nations have lowered expectations for significant outcomes.
Protesters’ Demands
Greenpeace activists paraded a float featuring Elon Musk as a baby with a chainsaw on top of a globe. Other banners called for “Tax justice now,” “Make Human Rights Great Again,” and “Make polluters pay.”
Beauty Narteh from Ghana’s Anti-Corruption Coalition emphasized the need for a fairer tax system and “dignity, not handouts.” Sokhna Ndiaye of the Africa Development Interchange Network urged public and private sectors to be “less selfish and show more solidarity” with developing countries.
Conflicting Views
In contrast, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez expressed hope, stating that “the very fact that this conference is happening while conflict is raging across the globe is a reason to be hopeful.” Speaking at a Global Citizen event, Sanchez reaffirmed Spain’s commitment to allocate 0.7% of its GDP to development aid and encouraged other nations to follow suit.
However, Jason Braganza, executive director of AFRODAD, a pan-African advocacy group involved in negotiating the conference’s outcome document, criticized countries like the U.S., the European Union, and Britain for obstructing efforts to establish a UN convention on sovereign debt. He stated, “It’s a shame these countries have opted to protect their own interests and those of creditors over lives that are being lost.”
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