Taking Forward Digital Public Infrastructure for the Global South
By Danish
Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) has received significant attention for its role in promoting inclusive and effective digital transformation, particularly in the countries of the global South. Elevated onto the global agenda under India’s Group of Twenty (G20) Presidency in 2023, DPIs are now considered as key digital solutions for providing essential services like digital identity, financial inclusion, and access to e-governance platforms. Yet, realizing the full potential of DPI in developing countries requires building a policy and regulatory framework that fosters trust, protects rights and addresses persistent digital divides. Robust institutions and governance mechanisms are equally essential to ensure that DPI adoption is inclusive, equitable and aligned to national priorities.
This paper provides a snapshot of the recent policy and regulatory developments on DPI, as well as the relevant stakeholders at the national and international levels. It then considers the challenges of the digital divide for developing countries and briefly presents some national experiences on the use of DPIs for increasing financial inclusion and promoting e-governance. The paper concludes by offering some recommendations to fully harness the benefits of DPI for accelerating sustainable development and digital transformation in the countries of the global South.
International Day of Science, Technology and Innovation for the South
September 16, 2025
Dr. Carlos Correa, South Centre Executive Director, highlighted the transformative role of S&T. He also noted that despite the enormous historical North-South asymmetry in the capacity to generate S&T, developing countries’ share of global R&D has increased steadily in the last two decades, while many countries still invest less than 1% of their GDP in R&D.
Implementing the 2024 AMR Political Declaration: Industry Accountability and Equity in Agrifood Sector Transformation
By Dr. Viviana Munoz Tellez
On 2 July 2025, at the sides of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, a high-level dialogue on AMR was held, co-organized by the Governments of Kenya and the United Kingdom (co-chairs of the Group of Friends of AMR), the South Centre, FAO, and the AMR Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform. The event took place at the FAO Headquarters in Rome, with in-person participation and webcast. Ambassadors and senior officials of Kenya, South Africa, India and Brazil, among others, made interventions in the high-level segment. The South Centre was also part of the panel.
The theme of the event “Industry Accountability and Equity in Agrifood Sector Transformation” provided an opportunity for forward-looking dialogue on the urgent need to transform how antimicrobials are used in agrifood systems, and the government’s required leadership in developing and implementing national policy frameworks that are adapted to national contexts, priorities and needs to address AMR and in adopting measures to incentivize responsible practices in the agrifood sector.
New Amendments to the International Health Regulations: Strengthening Access to Health Products in Emergencies and Pandemics
By Viviana Munoz Tellez
The International Health Regulations amendments entered into force on September 19, 2025 across most World Health Organization (WHO) Member States. These updates don’t give WHO any new powers but help countries work better together to advance fair and timely access to health products such as vaccines, treatments and diagnostics needed to respond to health emergencies. The real challenge now is implementation and building the necessary capabilities to make these improvements function.
Trump and the Return of the Nation-State: Hegemony and Crisis of the Neoliberal Global Order
By Humberto Campodonico
This article examines the deepening crisis of the global economic and trade order established after World War II, a crisis accelerated by Donald Trump’s return to the United States presidency. Trump has adopted a stance openly hostile to neoliberal globalization, promoting instead a project centered on reinforcing the nation-state, employing commercial coercion, and using economic power to preserve US hegemony by neutralizing China. His “reciprocal tariffs” and the “Big Beautiful Bill” illustrate this shift, breaking with the World Trade Organization and consolidating elite power while sharply reducing social spending. Far from correcting the inequities of neoliberal globalization, these measures channel the social dislocations of deindustrialization and the impoverishment of the US Rust Belt into an authoritarian discourse of economic sovereignty.
The article situates this process within the broader crisis of democratic capitalism, marked by declining trust in liberal democracy and the rise of populisms and authoritarian regimes that capitalize on discontent without offering redistributive solutions. The analysis draws on Graham Allison’s “Thucydides Trap” and Carla Norrlöf’s reading of Ibn Khaldun to explain both hegemonic rivalry and internal fragmentation. Finally, it explores alternatives to the failed neoliberal order and argues for opening a collective debate on a new international system in which the Global South must play a role.
South Centre Statement during the 60th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council
General Debate under Item 3
Geneva, 19 September 2025
At the 60th session of the Human Rights Council (HRC60), the South Centre delivered a statement welcoming the crucial update to the technical guidance on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity.
We are encouraged that the guidance moves beyond technical corrections to address the deep-seated root causes of why women and girls still die during childbirth. In our statement, we highlighted several key advancements:
🔹 An Intersectional Approach: The guidance rightfully identifies structural racism and discrimination as fundamental factors, providing a strong basis for targeted interventions.
🔹 A “Human Rights Economy” Framework: It broadens accountability to international financial institutions and corporations, emphasising that the global financial architecture—including sovereign debt, austerity measures, and healthcare privatisation—must be reformed to prioritise human rights.
🔹 Accountability and Reparations: The call for independent accountability mechanisms and a reparation fund for victims correctly reframes preventable maternal deaths from unfortunate accidents to serious injustices requiring systemic solutions.
These principles are intrinsically linked to the realisation of the Right to Development. A global environment that respects this right is essential for funding public health and creating societies where women and girls can thrive.
The challenge now is implementation. We call on all states, international financial institutions, and partners to fully fund and realise this new, rights-based and justice-oriented guidance.
South Centre Inputs on 2025-2029 Work Program of the UN Tax Committee
25 September 2025
The United Nations (UN) Secretary-General appointed a new Membership of the UN Tax Committee to hold office from 2025-2029. This includes Members nominated by Brazil, Cambodia, Dominican Republic, India, Jamaica, Liberia, Nigeria and Sierra Leone (all of them are members States of the South Centre). The Committee will hold its first meeting in October in Geneva, Switzerland, and will decide, among other things, the issues they should work on during the tenure of the new members. The Committee also issued a call for inputs to stakeholders to help shape this agenda.
To ensure that the four-year agenda contains topics of importance to South Centre Member States and developing countries more generally, the South Centre made a submission to the Committee which is reproduced below.
The Role of the Human Rights Council in Advancing the Right to Health: From Guidance to Implementation
Side Event to the 60th Session of the UN Human Rights Council
Organized by the South Centre
Date & Time: 25 September 2025, 15h00-16h00
Venue: Room Concordia 1, Palais des Nations, Geneva
This side event to the 60th session of the Human Rights Council is convened to discuss the critical implementation gap at domestic level of oversight over state obligations related to health, placing the voices and priorities of the Global South at the center of the discourse to chart a course for a more effective approach to advancing the right to health for all.
Bandung and Beyond: Reclaiming Collective Agency through Triangular Cooperation
By Amitabh Mattoo
Seventy years after the 1955 Bandung Conference, the Global South finds itself once again at a moment of moral and geopolitical reckoning. This article argues that Bandung must be reimagined not as a commemorative episode, but as an evolving framework of collective agency. By placing triangular cooperation at its centre, and by advancing new epistemic and institutional partnerships, we can craft a more inclusive, ethical, and action-oriented multilateralism for the 21st century.
Seven Decades After Bandung: The evolving landscape for South-South and Triangular Cooperation
By Danish
Seven decades after the landmark Asian-African Conference held in Bandung, Indonesia, its outcomes and principles continue to guide South-South and Triangular Cooperation (SSTrC) among the nations of the global South. Despite the current challenges facing global governance, multilateralism and international development cooperation, the Bandung Principles or Dasa sila remain an effective framework for developing countries to work collectively towards achieving peace, economic growth and sustainable development, and creating a democratic and equitable global order fit for the current moment which ensures that no one is left behind. Highlighting the legacy and continued relevance of the Spirit of Bandung for developing countries, this paper looks at some of the important elements that are contributing to the changing landscape for SSTrC; its opportunities, challenges and future trajectories; and how SSTrC could be strengthened at the national, regional and multilateral level for realizing sustainable development in the global South.
Financial Support for Civil Society Advocacy during World Antimicrobial Resistance Awareness Week (WAAW) 2025
The South Centre invites applications from civil society organizations and research institutions from developing countries for limited financial funding (maximum 2000 USD) to design and launch or extend impactful advocacy campaigns that engage local government, communities, stakeholders and media to address antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The scope of the campaigns can be human health, the human-animal interface, use of antimicrobials in food production systems, the role of the environment in the transmission and spread of AMR.
The campaigns should take place during the World AMR Awareness Week 2025. The theme for the World AMR Awareness Week (WAAW) 2025 is “Act Now: Protect Our Present, Secure Our Future”. This year’s WAAW will take place from 18–24 November 2025.
To apply for funding, please complete the application form below and send it to Ms. Caroline Ngome Eneme at ngomeeneme@southcentre.int by 20 September 2025. In case you need more space to provide information on your project, please attach it in a separate document. Any questions about this call can also be sent to this email address.
The selection result will be announced by 15 October 2025.
