In 2024, the Social Forum will take place on 31 October and 1 November in Room XX, Palais des Nations, Geneva. In accordance with resolution 53/20 of the Human Rights Council, it will focus on the contribution of financing for development to the advancement of all human rights for all.

Documentation

Programme of work
Information of panelists and moderators on Sched 2024 Social Forum

Registration

All participants are required to register for the Forum via the online registration system Indico (please click on link). A confirmation email with a digital ticket will be sent to your registered email address once your registration is approved. Registration is open from July 31^st to October 25^th, 2024.

Background

As the world emerges from the economic and social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and its aftermath and navigates ongoing crises, including the climate emergency, war and conflict, disruptions in energy and food prices, the ability of countries to cope with these crises has been uneven, with the poorest and most vulnerable populations usually bearing the brunt of the many interconnected challenges. Developing countries often lack sufficient resources to address and redress these challenges and are constantly contending with major constraints in financial resources. These include low tax revenues, high levels of debt, increasing inflation and interest rates, unfavorable trade terms and conditions and limited access to investment opportunities. These factors collectively pose significant barriers to economic progress and sustained development. They impede efforts to recover from the pandemic’s multidimensional impact and reverse progress towards achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which were already lagging behind. Financing for Development has therefore taken centre stage in global discussions on the implementation and acceleration of the SDGs and climate action.

The widening finance gap between developed and developing countries threatens to perpetuate a sustainable development divide. Without adequate financial support and favorable economic conditions, poorer nations are caught in a cycle of debt and underdevelopment, hindering their ability to achieve long-term sustainable growth and improve the well-being of their populations. Their fiscal space and capacities to invest in the protection and promotion of human rights, especially economic and social rights, become significantly limited. This uneven landscape underscores the urgent need for targeted support and transformative strategies to ensure just and equitable progress for all. Against this backdrop, the 2024 Social Forum will focus on "The Contribution of Financing for Development to the Advancement of All Human Rights for All," recognizing the urgent need to address the financing challenges exacerbated by recent and evolving global crises. Financing for Development (FfD) refers to the allocation and management of financial resources to support the comprehensive development of nations, with an imperative to ensure that all people, especially in developing countries, can actively participate in and benefit from development processes and outcomes. This aligns with the principles of the right to development, as enshrined in the 1986 United Nations Declaration on the Right to Development, which recognizes that development is a comprehensive economic, social, cultural, and political process aimed at improving the well-being of all individuals and peoples through their free, active and meaningful participation in development and the fair distribution of its benefits.

The Addis Ababa Action Agenda (AAAA), which set out a global framework for financing development post-2015, is a vital and integral component of the 2030 Agenda. It identified seven Action Areas, including domestic public resources, private business and finance, international development cooperation, international trade, debt sustainability, systemic issues and science, technology, innovation and capacity-building. Although the AAAA set ambitious goals for financing sustainable development, its actual implementation and impact have not reached intended levels. Stepping up FfD is both urgent and critical to human and planetary well-being and sustainable development worldwide, including the SDGs.

The 2024 Human Rights Council Social Forum thus takes place at a pivotal moment. It provides an opportunity to build momentum towards revitalizing the Financing for Development Agenda, anchored in human rights, in lead up to the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, scheduled for July 2025 in Spain. By fostering inclusive and forward-looking dialogue among a broad range of stakeholders —including governments, international organizations, civil society, the private sector and others—it aims to highlight the necessary redress in Financing for Development, including through restructuring and regulation, justice and equity, solidarity and cooperation, notably reform of the International Financial Architecture.

Side events

Side events of the Social Forum will take place in Palais des Nations, on the two days of the Forum, from 09:00 to 10:00 and from 13:00 to 15:00. If your organization wishes to hold a side event, please send your proposal in the form of a concept note to ohchr-socialforum@un.org before September 15^th, 2024. The theme, background, objective of your event and information of speakers are required in the concept note.

• International Tax Cooperation and Human Rights: Pathways to Reducing Global Inequalities
  Concept note
  Event organised by Permanent Mission of Honduras in Geneva
  31 Oct. 2024 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXIV
• Perspectives on international financial architecture reform: What do we want the FfD4 Conference to achieve?
  Event organised by Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Tax Justice Network Africa, Global Policy Forum Europe (GPF), Public Services International (PSI) and the UN Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD)
  Concept note | 31 Oct. 2024 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXI
• A Mine-free world: Human Rights and UN Sustainable Development Goals
  Event organised by International Eurasia Press Fund (IEPF)
  Concept note | 31 Oct. 2024 | 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXI
• What funding for what development?
  Event organised by Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung, Centre Europe-Tiers Monde (CETIM) and FIAN International
  Concept note | 31 Oct. 2024 | 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXIV
• Fixing the International Financial Architecture for Realizing Human Rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development
  Concept note
  Event organised by Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR), Centre for Economic and Social Rights (CESR), Amnesty International (AI) and Human Rights Watch (HRW)
  1 Nov. 2024 | 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXIV
• Illicit Financial Flows from Africa and the Financing of Development
  Event organised by University of the Free State, South Africa
  Concept note | 1 Nov. 2024 | 2:00 PM to 3:00 PM CEST-Geneva | Room XXI

Background documents:

• Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development, United Nations, 2015
• Financing for Sustainable Development Report 2024, Inter-agency Task Force on Financing for Development, United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs
• Follow-up to and implementation of the outcomes of the International Conferences on Financing for Development (A/78/190), Report of the Secretary-General, United Nations, July 2023
• Report of the Economic and Social Council forum on financing for development follow-up (E/FFDF/2023/3), May 2023
• Report of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development on its seventh session (TD/B/EFD/7/3), United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, December 2023
• Delivering development finance to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: Making development finance contribute to environmentally sound industrialization (TD/B/EFD/7/2), note by the UNCTAD secretariat for the seventh session of the Intergovernmental Group of Experts on Financing for Development, August 2023
• Sixth intersessional meeting for dialogue and cooperation on human rights and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development - Report of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, April 2024
• OHCHR Key Messages on Integrating Human Rights into the International Financial Architecture Reforms, January 2024
• Reports of the Independent Expert on the effects of foreign debt and other related international financial obligations of States on the full enjoyment of all human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights, Attiya Waris:
  • Fiscal legitimacy through human rights: a principled approach to financial resource collection and allocation for the realization of human rights (A/HRC/55/54), January 2024
  • International financial obligations, digital systems and human rights (A/HRC/52/34), December 2022
  • Towards a global fiscal architecture using a human rights lens (A/77/169), July 2022
  • International debt architecture reform and human rights (A/76/167), April 2021
• Reports of the Special Rapporteur on the right to development, Saad Alfarargi:
  • Financing for development – international level (A/75/167), July 2020
  • Financing for development – national level (A/HRC/45/15), July 2020