On 18 October 2024, we participated in a virtual conference titled 'Social Justice, Fiscal Justice and the International Financial Architecture: A Roadmap Towards FFD 4 in Seville'. This event, co-organised with members of the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, highlighted the significant role that FFD 4 (scheduled for 30 June to 3 July 2025 in Seville, Spain) is expected to play in advancing social and fiscal justice initiatives currently under discussion at the multilateral level, as well as in the ongoing dialogue on reforms to the international financial architecture.

Our Associate Program Officer on Economic Justice, Ezequiel Steuermann, was a panelist in this virtual event, which was attended by various organisations from Latin America and Caribbean Civil Society and members of United Nations treaty bodies, among the wider general public. Ezequiel focused his intervention on the need for FFD 4 to capitalise on the current momentum concerning global debates on progressive fiscal policies, serving as a unified platform by which to merge simultaneous initiatives and explore potential bridges and synergies between them. Examples of these incipient multilateral reforms include the future United Nations Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation, the G20 proposal on a global minimum standard for the taxation of ultra-high-net-worth individuals, and the New Collective Quantified Goal (NCQG) on Climate Finance to be imminently determined at COP 29 in Azerbaijan this November.

In a context of pushback against multilateralism in various parts of the world, Ezequiel explored the intersection between the growing discontent with democratic systems and the budgetary constraints that most countries face when challenged to provide quality and timely public services, with an undeniable impact on the economic, social and cultural rights of individuals. In that regard, progressive fiscal reforms aim to broaden the fiscal space that states can rely upon to effectively fund the transformational public policies that are needed to meet the demands of the triple interdisciplinary crisis: reducing poverty and inequality, combatting the climate emergency through the implementation of effective adaptation and mitigation measures, and guaranteeing access to quality public education and healthcare services to the most vulnerable, among other urgent challenges. Growing public revenues by ensuring that the richest pay their fair share, therefore, becomes a growing imperative to amplify the amount of available resources that States have to actively guarantee the respect for human rights through their policy decisions and their concrete implementation.

You can watch the event, in Spanish, here.