Seville: As southern Spain sweltered under an intense heatwave, hundreds of activists took to the streets of Seville on Sunday, demanding urgent action on debt cancellation, climate justice, and wealth taxation.
Their calls come on the eve of a high-stakes United Nations summit on development financing, an event held once every decade.
The protest, featuring striking visuals such as a Greenpeace float of Elon Musk caricatured as a chainsaw-wielding baby atop the Earth, underscored the frustration of civil society groups over what they see as a lackluster agenda for the four-day summit.
The meeting is tasked with charting a global framework to address poverty, inequality, disease, and climate change. However, critics argue the summit lacks both ambition and urgency, particularly in light of the withdrawal of the United States and dwindling commitments from wealthy nations.
Banners reading “Make Human Rights Great Again,” “Tax Justice Now,” and “Make Polluters Pay” lined the protest route, reflecting a growing call among activists for structural reforms that go beyond traditional aid.
Building a better world takes more than goodwill—it requires real investment. As world leaders gather in Sevilla for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development, the focus is on turning promises into progress. #FFD4 pic.twitter.com/NPpBDk5mZX
— United Nations in South Africa (@UNinSouthAfrica) June 29, 2025
Despite the criticism, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez sought to strike a hopeful tone. Speaking at an event organized by the non-profit Global Citizen, Sanchez emphasized that the very act of convening such a summit during ongoing global conflicts was, in itself, “a reason to be hopeful.”
Reaffirming Spain’s pledge to allocate 0.7 percent of its GDP to development aid, Sanchez called on other nations to honor similar commitments.
Yet concerns over geopolitical tensions and protectionist economic policies remained at the forefront. Jason Braganza, Executive Director of the pan-African group AFRODAD and a key participant in negotiations for the summit’s final declaration, criticized the U.S., the EU, and the UK for blocking efforts to establish a UN convention on sovereign debt.
“It’s a shame these countries have opted to protect their own interests and those of creditors over lives that are being lost,” Braganza said. The summit opens Monday in Seville and will set the tone for global development financing over the next decade.
