The South Centre is the policy research institution of developing countries. It is governed by its 54 Member States, serves all developing countries, and helps find solutions to global challenges.
For 31 years it has worked with Southern governments where global rules are made, at the WHO, WIPO, WTO and the UN, on issues of key relevance for development such as access to medicines, trade, investment, tax, climate and digital governance.
To keep this impact going, we have launched our Investment Case with a fundraising goal.
We invite developing countries to invest in the South Centre as their own institution. Member States can do this through their contributions, and other developing countries by joining the Centre.
We also invite partners and donors to support our work.
Read the Investment Case and help us achieve our goal:
South Centre Statement to the 38th Session of the Standing Committee on the Law of Patents (SCP) of the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO)
The South Centre, as the intergovernmental organization of developing countries, supports its Member States and other developing countries in using TRIPS flexibilities to advance public interest objectives. The SCP discussions must preserve national policy space and support development-oriented patent policies, instead of harmonizing standards of patent protection.
Application Period: 30 October 2026 to 31 December 2026 (11.59 pm CET)
The Board of the South Centre (the Board) hereby announces the vacancy for the position of Executive Director of the South Centre. It therefore invites all interested persons from the Member Countries of the South Centre and/or the Group of 77 + China to apply to fill this position.
Established in 1994, the South Centre is the Inter-Governmental Policy Research Institution of developing countries, with currently 54 developing country Member States from Africa, Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean. The South Centre undertakes policy-oriented research on issues of relevance for the Global South, supports developing countries’ effective participation in multilateral fora, and provides advice, technical assistance and capacity building to governments on development-related policies and international negotiations.
The main activities of the Centre include policy research and analysis, convening of meetings for developing countries to share views and experiences and develop common negotiating positions, and technical assistance and capacity building. The issues addressed by the Centre include, inter alia, international and regional trade, finance for development, global public health, innovation and intellectual property, climate change, biodiversity, sustainable development, tax policy, investment, human rights and South-South cooperation.
The South Centre has three institutional pillars: the Council of Representatives in which the Member States are represented; the Board comprising a Chairperson and members who act in their individual capacities and provide guidance to the Secretariat; and the Secretariat headed by the Executive Director which implements the activities of the South Centre. The Secretariat is accountable to and works under the guidance of the Board and the Council.
High -Level International Investment Agreements Conference
Statement – South Centre
Doha – Qatar, October 2026
On the occasion of the High-Level International Investment Agreements Conference during the United Nations Trade and Development’s (UNCTAD) World Investment Forum 2026 in Doha, the South Centre reaffirmed its commitment to building a fairer, more inclusive international economic architecture.
For over 30 years, our work has emphasized that success in investment policy is not measured by capital volumes alone, but by better investment—investment that builds domestic productive capacity, creates decent jobs, and drives a just green transition.
Key takeaways from our statement:
🔹 Holistic Reform over Procedural Tweaks: Investment governance must not operate as an isolated system designed solely for investor protection. Procedural improvements in dispute settlement are not enough; legitimate climate, health, and social measures require robust legal safeguards alongside enforceable investor responsibilities.
🔹 Modernizing the Existing Treaty Network: Better drafting in new agreements is insufficient while outdated treaties with broad survival clauses remain in force. States must coordinate on joint interpretations, amendments, consolidation, and terminations.
🔹 UNCTAD’s Leadership & Reform Principles: We commend UNCTAD’s sustained leadership, particularly through frameworks like the Guiding Principles for IIA Reform, which bridge the gap between national development ambitions and actionable treaty reform while safeguarding States’ duty to regulate.
🔹 Strengthening South–South Cooperation: The South Centre continues to partner closely with UNCTAD through policy research, technical assistance, and capacity-building to support developing countries in reforming their investment regimes according to domestic development priorities.
STATEMENT BY DR. CARLOS CORREA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR OF THE SOUTH CENTRE, TO THE MINISTERS AND GOVERNORS MEETING OF THE INTERGOVERNMENTAL GROUP OF TWENTY-FOUR (G-24)
13 October 2026, Bangkok, Thailand
While growing geopolitical tension, fragmentation and prolonged high uncertainty have provided a challenging scenario for the world economy, 2026 has seen repeatedglaring breaches of international lawand the United Nations (UN) Charter, which have met with condemnation but little, if any, consequential action. More than ever, multilateralism needs to be strengthened.
The UN Framework Convention on International Tax Cooperation (UNFCITC) offers tremendous revenue potential for developing countries and an ambitious text for the Framework and the two Protocols must be finalized within the timeline of July 2027.
The UNFCITC can also provide a powerful multilateral framework for collective economic security. The Conference of State Parties (COSP) should be able to take collective measures to ensure that no Party is prevented from implementing the Convention, its Protocols and any other instruments adopted by the COSP. This is particularly relevant in the context of the digital economy, where developing countries may face unlawful threats and unilateral coercive measures when seeking to implement the Protocol on cross-border services. The UNFCITC should enable the Parties to take collective action to respond against such threats.
Statement by the South Centre to the Open-ended Intergovernmental Working Group on the WHO Pandemic Agreement, Eight Session (IGWG8)
Geneva, 14 September 2026
Our statement to WHO IGWG8 calls for a Pathogen Access and Benefit-Sharing (PABS) system that makes equity enforceable.
The statement urges negotiators to secure:
Standard, legally binding contracts with WHO that link access to benefit-sharing commitments.
Real-time set-asides and donations of vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, alongside non-exclusive licensing and transfers of technology and know-how.
Monetary contributions from entities that commercialize products or services developed using PABS materials or sequence information.
Legal certainty, traceability and accountability.
The South Centre cautions that a “hybrid” architecture offering access through two routes, with benefit-sharing obligations attached to only one, would make benefit sharing a choice for some users, and hence is not a viable proposition.
We also think a federated workbench model discussed in informal negotiations merits further consideration.
For the WHO Pandemic Agreement to deliver on equity, access and benefit sharing must stand on an equal footing.
South Centre Statement to the First Global Dialogue on Artificial Intelligence Governance
Geneva, 6-7 July 2026
AI governance needs implementation of multilateral commitments, backed by financing & measurable progress. International cooperation & AI capacity-building for the Global South is key to leverage AI for development.
South Centre Statement to the Assemblies of the Member States of the World Intellectual Property Organization: Sixty-Eighth Series of Meetings, July 7 to 15, 2026
Statement delivered today by the South Centre at the 68th Series of Meetings of the WIPO Assemblies (Geneva, 7–15 July 2026):
The South Centre reaffirmed that development is integral to WIPO’s mandate as a UN specialized agency, and that IP rules must strike a fair balance with the public interest — including access to educational materials, health technologies, and green technologies — in line with the SDGs.
Key points raised:
🔹 As the WIPO Development Agenda approaches its 20th anniversary, the Assemblies should reaffirm and strengthen it in 2027.
🔹 Concern that standing committees are not reporting to the General Assembly on Development Agenda implementation, as decided in 2017.
🔹 A call for real progress on copyright limitations and exceptions, and on protection of traditional knowledge and traditional cultural expressions.
🔹 A call on the Coordination Committee to respect geographical and gender balance in staff recruitment under Staff Regulation 4.2 — flagging that the proposed Deputy Director General appointments skew toward developed countries and reduce gender balance, leaving three regional groups, including Asia and the Pacific, unrepresented.
The South Centre reiterated its commitment to supporting developing countries and LDCs, including graduating members, in using the full policy space and flexibilities of the IP system to meet their development needs.
ECOWAS Commission and the South Centre Congratulate the Liberia Revenue Authority and National Revenue Authority of Sierra Leone on the Signing of the Memorandum of Understanding Operationalizing the Simultaneous Tax Examination
Abuja and Geneva, 22 June 2026
The South Centre and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Commission congratulate the Liberia Revenue Authority (LRA) and National Revenue Authority (NRA) of Sierra Leone on the signing of an MoU operationalizing the Global South’s first Simultaneous Tax Examination.
This landmark exercise, where two national tax administrations join forces to audit the same Multinational Enterprise, has significant revenue potential for Liberia and Sierra Leone, common Member States of the South Centre and ECOWAS.
Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights
62nd Session of the Human Rights Council
Geneva, 19 June 2026
During the Annual panel discussion on the adverse impacts of climate change on human rights at the 62nd session of the Human Rights Council, the South Centre delivered a statement.
Climate action must be anchored in the principle of Common but Differentiated Responsibilities and Respective Capabilities (CBDR-RC) and supported by adequate, predictable, and accessible finance. The statement outlines four actionable pathways:
Grant-Based Public Finance: Advanced economies must provide new grant-based public finance rather than relying on profit-driven private-sector solutions.
Binding Climate Reparations: Following the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion, providing climate reparations is a binding legal obligation. The Loss and Damage Fund must recognise historical emissions and be funded.
Dismantling Barriers: We must address intellectual property monopolies blocking technology transfer, Investor-State Dispute Settlement mechanisms penalising climate regulations, and Unilateral Coercive Measures crippling domestic resilience.
Right to Development: Climate finance must facilitate the Right to Development. It must not be weaponised by restrictive conditionalities that block vulnerable communities from accessing funds.
Realising human rights demands climate justice, requiring equitable, accessible, and rights-based finance to repair historical harms.
South Centre Statement on the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health: Health As an Enabler of Dignity, A/HRC/62/66
Geneva, 17 June 2026
The South Centre welcomed the Special Rapporteur’s report on the right to health and emphasized three priorities for developing countries: health equity, international cooperation and solidarity, and maternal and sexual and reproductive health rights.
26TH COUNCIL OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE SOUTH CENTRE: COMPILATION OF STATEMENTS
June 2026
This is a compilation of the statements at the Twenty-sixth Meeting of the Council of Representatives of the South Centre held on 23 April 2026, which includes the following:
opening statement by H.E. Mr. Ajit Kumar, Convenor of the Council of Representatives
Spanish and English versions of the report presented by Dr. Carlos Correa, Executive Director of the South Centre under agenda item 4 “Activities and Finances of the South Centre: Report by the Executive Director”
statement of H.E. Mr. Thabo Mbeki, Chairman of the South Centre Board under agenda item 5 “Statement by the Chairman of the Board of the South Centre”
interventions made by member countries under agenda item 9 “General Statements from Representatives”
