People of all countries and regions are dealing with serious problems that need quick and determined action. It’s crucial to act urgently to tackle the complex challenges and global issues that could affect how we live our lives.

With the deepening of social, environmental, and economic inequalities caused by a development model based on the plunder and exploitation of peoples and nature, severe setbacks are occurring in human rights such as water, land, food, housing, habitat, and decent work. Additionally, in the territories, socio-environmental conflicts are being exacerbated due to the imposition of mega- projects, the expansion of monocultures, and carbon markets, all of this in complicity between states and transnational corporations.

We condemn authoritarianism, militarization, and the instrumentalization of judicial systems as a method to repress human rights defenders. These disastrous measures that seek to usurp the power of sovereign peoples lead to the closing of civic space and systematic violations of human rights, hindering progressive advancement in expanding rights, strengthening democracy, and consolidating the rule of law.

We consider climate change to be the primary threat to humanity. The scientific evidence reflected in the territories with the accelerated loss of biodiversity, rising temperatures, food insecurity, and forced displacement due to extreme weather events and disasters calls on us to be vigilant in decisively working to build effective public policies. In this region of the world where peoples have historically lived in conditions of high and increasing vulnerability, with devastating impacts on children, youth, women, indigenous peoples, and Afro-descendants.

It is important to remember that we are approaching the midterm evaluation of the SDGs, which opens a window of opportunity for this evaluation to not only be a space for reflection and discourse but a turning point for social and ecological transformation. This should enable us to move towards creating fair, equitable, sustainable, and peaceful societies in which all stakeholders and sectors involved must collaborate closely in the search for sustainable and lasting solutions that ensure the health and well-being of peoples and nature.

In this regard, within the framework of the Global Week of Action for the SDGs and the upcoming Summit on the SDGs, we held the 4th Global Assembly of the Peoples, in which the gathered members of GCAP Latin America and the Caribbean call on States, multilateral, intergovernmental, and financial systems to:

• Build a progressive, inclusive, transparent, and equitable regional and global tax governance, eliminating exemptions and privileges for transnational companies who must pay their taxes to invest in the development of peoples and
• Transform the structural issues that have led peoples to systematically live in conditions of impoverishment, exclusion, inequalities, and vulnerabilities of all kinds, correcting historical injustices that have denied the full and effective realization of their human
• Generate concessional financing based on the historical responsibility of wealthy countries, with an urgent need for the issuance and equitable distribution of SDRs (Special Drawing Rights), where these do not lead to increased levels of indebtedness in the countries of the
• Promptly promote more countries in the region to become Parties to the Escazú Agreement, creating national and regional conditions and capacities for its effective implementation and adopting urgent measures to protect environmental, water, and land
• Continue to establish regional blocs in the implementation of public policies with a focus on social justice, climate justice, economic justice, and fiscal justice, linked to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, based on their own realities with progressive initiatives for change, strengthening their institutional capacity and negotiation through a common regional
• Build a region of peace, eradicating all forms of violence, with a special emphasis on violence against women, children, youth, and sexual diversities, affirming the need to promote gender equality in all spheres of life, including family and community life.
• Ensure the annual climate financing that is already established in international commitments on climate change, as part of the historical responsibility of Northern Global countries, so that the Global South has the resources to safeguard the integrity of the planet, preserve ecosystems, and protect
• Transform production and consumption patterns, as well as the polluting energy matrix, to transition towards a sustainable society with global responsibility that allows for the preservation of the health and well-being of peoples and

We affirm our deep commitment from civil society to continue working with grassroots organizations, indigenous peoples, unions, older adults, rural women, youth, farmers, Afro- descendant individuals, cooperatives, development organizations, social movements, and governments to facilitate processes of knowledge and thought exchange and creation based on the demands and proposals emanating from the peoples. These should be incorporated into national, regional, and global development plans and public policies.

We believe that the implementation of Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security and Resolution 2250 on Youth, Peace, and Security represents a significant contribution to ensure that the entire work of the State and the United Nations results in the manifestation of lasting sustainable peace. For this purpose, it is urgent to raise the level of ethical and political commitment to multilateralism, mobilize domestic resources, transform structural issues, and promote South- South and Triangular Cooperation schemes.

Today, more than ever, life demands us to come together in action, to forge intergenerational, intercultural, and international alliances among peoples, fostering social and political dialogue as a significant contribution to manifest civic and democratic values in the creation of a world at peace on a healthy planet. In this way, we can guarantee the rights of present and future generations.

Down the Declaration here in English and in Spanish.