Inputs to the Outcome Document

Keeping Global Financing Promises: Advancing Development, Human Rights, and International Cooperation

This policy brief advocates for a human rights enhancing approach to financing for sustainable development, emphasizing environmental action that prioritizes vulnerable communities. It calls for mobilizing resources to address historical inequities, ensuring meaningful participation in financing decisions, and implementing safeguards to prevent human rights violations. It recommends reshaping international financial architecture to prioritize concessional financing for those most affected by environmental harm and establishing mechanisms for direct and equitable access to climate finance.

This policy brief argues that the international financial architecture requires a radical transformation to resume progress and advance on human rights, including the right to development, climate action and the commitments outlined in the 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development. There is a need for a multilateral legal framework on sovereign debt, grounded in international human rights principles and standards, where all creditors, including private creditors participate on an equal footing to ensure a fair and effective resolution of debt crisis.

Linked to 70% of the SDG targets, digital infrastructure is a cornerstone for developing digital economies and achieving the SDGs. Yet, with 2.6 billion unconnected people, building the necessary infrastructure to achieve universal connectivity requires significant funding. Closing the investment gap necessitates optimizing traditional investments, while also identifying adequate financing mechanisms to improve project attractiveness and attract new investors. Multi-stakeholder collaboration is crucial for devising innovative strategies to bridge the financing gap, ensuring universal, meaningful connectivity by 2030.

This policy brief addresses the $1.5 trillion global trade finance gap, which disproportionately impacts small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in developing economies. It outlines key challenges, including high rejection rates and compliance costs, and proposes targeted solutions such as expanding risk-sharing frameworks, strengthening local financial institutions, and promoting climate-friendly trade finance. The brief emphasizes the need for multilateral cooperation to close the gap, promote inclusive growth, and support the transition to a low-carbon global economy.

This policy brief explores the challenges of trade fragmentation and inequality in the global economy, focusing on the impact on low- and middle-income countries. It outlines policy solutions to reduce trade costs, invest in infrastructure, promote economic diversification, and strengthen global trade governance. Specific recommendations for the Fourth Conference on Financing for Development (FFD4) include financing for trade infrastructure, bridging the digital divide, improving access to finance, and reducing trade barriers to foster inclusive and sustainable development.