Convergence Assembly Declaration

World Social Forum 2015, Tunis, March 27th

Post-2015 Agenda: what development, for whom and why?

 

The Assembly on the post-2015 development agenda held in Tunis brought together more than 30 civil society organizations from all continents to inform one another, share analyses and propose joint courses of action on the post-2015 agenda currently under negotiation at the United Nations. The year 2015 will be crucial to define the future of the international development agenda, from the 3rd Financing for Development Conference in Addis Abeba in July, to the final adoption by the United Nations of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in September to the December Conference on climate change (COP21) in Paris.

The SDGs call for a paradigm shift. Across the world, social movements, social solidarity economy actors, women’s and food sovereignty movements, trade unions, human rights defenders and civil society organizations are proposing concrete solutions, organizing themselves and connecting with each other to build fair and sustainable economies and societies. The sustainable development agenda needs to draw on these transformational processes, echo and support their proposals.

 

WE REAFFIRM THAT:

The civil society organizations, global campaigns, social movements and human rights defenders gathered today, reaffirm that:

 

  1. The human rights framework must be at the basis of the SDGs, which must be considered as universal goals applying both to the South and to the richest countries.
  2. There is a clear contradiction between the pursuit of goals for the sustainability and well-being of all and the international free trade agreements that destroy the basis for their realisation and take away sovereignty to allow people to decide their own development. The richest countries need to reconsider through the Policy Coherence for Development perspective how they answer the human rights imperative in the world and within their borders.
  3. We need a strong political agenda, not a technocratic one, where the will and commitments are clear and legally binding.
  4. We will have a common agenda of mobilisation and alerts and work to connect with the other mobilisations which have convened at the World Social Forum 2015.

 

ORGANIZATIONS THAT ATTENDED THE ASSEMBLY

AQOCI, ATTAC, Beyond 2015, CAFOD, Center for Economic and Social Rights, CIDSE, Coalition Eau, CODE-NGO, Concord, DEEEP, DKA Austria, Economistas sin fronteras, Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Enda Tiers-Monde, Fédération syndicale unitaire, Finnish Peace Committee, France Libertés, IBON International, IDEA-Irish Development Education Association, IFP, INFID Indonesia, IRD France, Global Call to Action against Poverty, LAPAS, LDC Watch, NGO Federation of Nepal, PIANGO – Pacific Islands Association of NGOs, Plataforma 2015 y más, Powerline, RIPESS-Intercontinental Network for the Promotion of Social Solidarity Economy, RAESS, RENAPESS, REMESS, Sightsavers, Social Watch, Visions of the Left