We need to urgently respond to rich countries that are slashing their aid budgets, and diverting critical resources away from the world’s poorest countries. This is having disastrous impacts on people on the ground as it undermines initiatives which provide basic services, safeguard democracy and protect human rights. 

Many of the countries making huge cuts are in Europe.

We need these governments to understand that sacrificing the lives of people in the global south for their own geopolitical and economic priorities hurts us all.  

With both the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, taking place in Sevilla, Spain at the end of June and aid budgets being decided in the months to come, civil society organisations the world over are mobilising around this crucial issue. 

We must push rich countries to change course, replenish their aid budgets, and pledge to change the system that governs aid, placing it under the UN where all countries have a seat at the table. 

European governments must hear this message loud and clear and know that the public is watching when they make decisions on their aid budgets in the future. 

The petition is organised by ActionAid, CONCORD Europe, Eurodad and Oxfam. It calls on governments to: 

1. Reverse the budget cuts to aid - increase the volumes and deliver on the commitments owed to the global south.
2. Improve the quality of aid - ringfence it for poverty and inequality in the places that need it most.
3. Democratise decision making - grant the United Nations a greater role in how aid is used and governed, because it is the only place where countries of the global south and north participate on an equal footing. 

If you want a safer, more prosperous world for everyone, sign the petition today!