Call to “End Hunger, Nourish Dignity” among Priorities in Cape Town Declaration of G20 Symposium on Global Justice

The “End Hunger, Nourish Dignity” commitment of the G20 symposium participants is among the participants’ “five key areas of commitment”.

Specifically, this commitment proposes “universal school meal programmes by 2030” in recognition of their role in fostering “health, education, and gender equity”.

Cancelling “illegitimate and unsustainable debt” is another key commitment. Titled “Debt Justice Now”, the commitment also entails “the establishment of a fair and transparent international debt resolution framework.”

The cancellation of African countries’ debts, the delegates at the two-day symposium have said, “is a moral imperative, essential for Africa’s structural transformation and global equity.”

The participants committed themselves to “A New Social Contract for the Global Economy” that specifically seeks “reforms to ensure global financial systems prioritise human dignity, equity, and environmental responsibility.”

Caption: SACBC

Another key commitment is what the participants described as “Planetary Solidarity and Ecological Transformation”.

This entails the “support for the creation of an Ecological Impact Fund for the Global South, with resources directed toward climate resilience and loss-and-damage financing.”

The participants in the June 23-24 symposium on global justice and solidarity that was realized under the theme, “Global Justice and Africa’s G20 Priorities – Linking Moral Vision with Policy Strategy” also identified “Inclusive Global Governance” as a key commitment.

This, they have explained, seeks to affirm that “faith leaders, youth, women, and civil society actors must play a role in shaping governance structures at all levels.”

“We reject governance models that silence grassroots voices,” they say in the Cape Town Declaration on Global Justice and Solidarity, which is to be submitted to G20 Sherpas and national leaders ahead of this year’s G20 Summit.

The delegates have explained, “We commit to building a transnational alliance rooted in moral vision, scientific knowledge, and lived experience—guided by kindness, compassion, and the leadership of African institutions, youth, women, and communities of faith.”

Other commitments include “sustaining the Solidarity for One Humanity, One Future network; presenting the Declaration to the African Union, the South African G20 Presidency, the United Nations, and the Vatican; developing a public Scorecard on Global Justice Commitments; publishing academic and policy outputs from the symposium; (and) mobilising collective action and civic engagement in support of global justice goals.”

Organized in partnership with the Jesuit Justice and Ecology Network–Africa (JENA), the G20 symposium had sought to present bold and “actionable proposals on the establishment of an Ecological Impact Fund (EIF) to accelerate climate innovation in the Global South.”

The convention had also sought to create “a just and accountable global debt architecture rooted in equity and the public good; and the development of a Universal School Meals Program as a global commitment to child nutrition and education.”

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“We leave Cape Town not with despair, but with hope grounded in solidarity—and with the belief that compassion, care, and courageous leadership can help us build a just and sustainable world,” signatories to the Cape Town Declaration state.

Founded in 1999 after the Asian financial crisis of 1997 – 1998 as an informal forum for the Finance Ministers and Central Bank Governors of the most important industrialized and developing economies to discuss international economic and financial stability, the G20 has membership from the “world’s major economies, representing 85% of global GDP, 75% of international trade, and two-thirds of the world’s population.”

The 19 countries of the G20 include Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Republic of Korea, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, Türkiye, the United Kingdom (UK), and the United States (U.S.). Other entities are the EU and, from 2023, the AU.

Initially, the G20 focused largely on broad macroeconomic issues. It has since expanded its agenda; it includes in its agenda trade, climate change, sustainable development, health, agriculture, energy, environment, climate change, and anti-corruption.