Ahead of the 16th session of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16), which will be held from 20-23 October in Geneva, Switzerland, civil society has organized around a joint set of priorities and critiques. Regions Refocus, Society for International Development, Third World Network, and Third World Network-Africa drafted a statement reflecting these priorities and critiques and shared it with civil society for input and endorsement.
A condensed version of the statement was delivered by Regions Refocus at the opening of the Committee of the Whole (CoW) in Geneva on Monday, 20 October. The full statement, including the list of endorsements, was then shared with all Member States. Despite the issues surrounding civil society’s participation in UNCTAD16, the full list of almost 100 endorsing CSOs includes regional and global networks (many of which represent hundreds of CSOs each), as well as individual organizations.