Today, the European Network on Debt and Development (Eurodad) has launched a new paper, answering some of the most common questions arising from civil society’s proposal for a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt -  the blueprint to rebuild the global debt architecture. 

External debt service payments have reached an all-time high in the global south, and, as the paper sets out, a reform to address debt crisis prevention and resolution is long overdue.

Next week, Eurodad experts will join civil society activists from the global south and north in New York, where UN Member states will debate reforms of the global financial architecture at the 2nd Preparatory Committee session (PrepCom) ahead of next year’s Financing for Development Conference (FfD). 

Iolanda Fresnillo, a co-author and Policy and Advocacy Manager for Debt Justice at Eurodad said: “There has never been a more urgent time to reform the debt architecture. According to UNCTAD, low-income countries paid US$847 billion in net interest payments alone on public debt in 2023. This is almost three times what global north countries promised on climate finance in a decade. The Fourth Financing for Development Conference will be the key opportunity to address the enormous problems with the existing debt architecture, by agreeing on a process towards a UN Framework Convention on sovereign debt.” 

Polina Girshova, co-author and Policy and Advocacy Assistant at Eurodad said: “These are resources that could be spent on education, health and - as so many highlighted in Baku last week - climate action. Indeed, the failure of the COP to agree on sufficient and non-debt creating climate finance, will heavily impact countries already overburdened by unsustainable loans.” 

Comprising 20 questions, the issues the document addresses include: 

• Why the United Nations (UN) has a mandate to work on sovereign debt reform and the history of sovereign debt at the UN.
• How a debt convention differs from efforts by the International Monetary Fund, G20 or Global Sovereign Debt Roundtable.
• What types of reforms a UN debt convention should address.
• How civil society can get involved.

ENDS

Media contact: Mary Stokes, Senior Communications Officer: [email protected]. 

Notes to editors

• Find the Q&A: Why do we need a Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt? here: https://www.eurodad.org/un-debt-qa 
• Find the civil society proposal for a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt here: https://www.eurodad.org/un_framework_convention_on_sovereign_debt
• Find information on the 2nd PrepCom session for FfD4 here: https://financing.desa.un.org/preparatory-process-ffd4/second-prepcom  Find information on the CS FfD Mechanism participation at the 2nd Prep Com here: https://csoforffd.org/post/second-prep-comm/ 
• Find Civil Society Financing for Development Mechanism (CS FfD Mechanism)* proposals for FfD4 here: https://csoforffd.org/resources/civil-society-ffd-mechanism-submission-to-ffd4-elements-paper/ 
• Find an overview of the NCQG process and its impact on climate, economic and gender justice in this blog: https://www.eurodad.org/cop29_and_the_ncqg 
• The latest debt statistics can be found in UNCTAD’s report ‘A world of debt 2024’: https://unctad.org/publication/world-of-debt 

* The CS FfD Mechanism is a coalition of more than 800 civil society organisations, including Eurodad, active in the Financing for Development Process at the UN. The CS FfD Mechanism is officially acknowledged by the UN FfD Office as the mechanism for civil society engagement in the process. Find more information here: https://csoforffd.org/the-mechanism/