Elevating South Voices in the Global AMR Response
Report of Impact and Lessons Learned (2018 – 2025)
South Centre
Evaluation of the initiatives implemented with financial support from the Fleming Fund, Department of Health and Social Care, United Kingdom
Contribution to the Report of the UN Secretary-General on the implementation of General Assembly Resolution on the “Necessity of ending the economic, commercial and financial embargo imposed by the United States of America against Cuba”
South Centre
13 February 2026
The illegal blockade against Cuba is a continuing violation of the UN Charter & international law and must be lifted to allow full realisation of human rights and SDGs. See the South Centre inputs to the UN Secretary-General’s report, emphasising urgent need to end the blockade.
MC14 in Yaoundé: Implementation of Consensus in Ministerial Preparations
An Analytical Note on the Evolving Consensus Practices in the Lead-Up to MC14, 23 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This Analytical Note examines four procedural developments in the preparations for MC14 against the consensus requirements of Article IX:1 of the Marrakesh Agreement. These concern: (i) the transmission of the draft fisheries subsidies decision without a formal meeting of the negotiating body; (ii) the General Council Chair’s requirement that Members pre-secure consensus before proposed text can be considered for the Ministerial Declaration; (iii) the conduct of WTO Reform consultations outside formal WTO bodies; and (iv) the separation between the consensus-governed agenda and the non-consensus modalities that shape the Conference programme. Each development engages with one or more of the safeguards embedded in the treaty definition of consensus. The Note observes that these evolving practices, which have not been formally authorized by the membership, may have particular implications for developing countries and LDCs with limited delegation capacity.
Inputs to UN CSTD Working Group on Data Governance at All Levels
Track 3 – Considerations of Sharing the Benefits of Data
South Centre
February 2026
The South Centre submission to the United Nations Working Group on Data Governance highlights how economic and social benefits of data can accrue more equitably to the people and countries of the Global South.
Input for the Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas
Report on Peasant Territories on Land and Sea
South Centre
February 2026
The South Centre has officially submitted its inputs to the UN Working Group on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas for their upcoming thematic report on “Peasant Territorialities of Sea and Land.”
Our submission emphasises that realising the rights recognised in the UN Declaration on the Rights of Peasants (UNDROP), particularly Article 17, depends on a fundamental shift in how “territory” is legally understood and economically managed.
The South Centre focuses on:
Climate finance must support peasant agroecology, not displace the very people who steward the land.
Digital Public Infrastructure for Democratic Data Monetization
By Rajesh Kumar & Meghna Dhariwal
Data monetization has long been discussed through narrow and fragmented lenses, often overlooking models that prioritize public value and shared benefit. While data is increasingly recognised as a strategic economic asset, conversations around its monetization have largely excluded approaches that empower individuals and communities alongside businesses. This paper proposes a more inclusive and development-centric model of data monetization enabled through Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), referred to as DPI for Democratic Data Monetization (DPI-DDM). First, we define data monetization, explore its importance in today’s digital economy, and trace its evolution, highlighting past approaches and their limitations. Second, we introduce the concept of DPI and articulate why it serves as an optimal foundation for equitable and democratic data monetization. We also outline the key drivers and precedents that have led to the emergence of DPI-DDM. Third, we present a comprehensive framework for DPI-DDM, detailing its foundational layers, potential revenue streams, and the multifaceted benefits it offers to individuals, institutions, and society at large. Fourth, we examine the key challenges in the rollout and implementation of DPI-DDM, including issues related to governance, capacity, and trust. We conclude with actionable insights and a forward-looking roadmap to operationalise DPI-DDM as a vehicle for data equity, economic opportunity, and digital democracy.
MC14 in Yaoundé: Updated Process and Modalities
An Analytical Note on the Director-General’s Revised Road to Yaoundé MC14 Working Draft (JOB/TNC/127/Rev.2/Add.1/Rev.1), 11 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This note examines the Revised Road to Yaoundé for the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14) and the implications of its programme, sequencing, and institutional management. It situates the revised agenda within current dynamics in Geneva and assesses how process choices shape ministerial engagement, priority-setting, and the handling of long-standing development mandates. Drawing on lessons from earlier Ministerial Conferences, the note highlights the risks that compressed formats, limited transparency, and facilitator-driven structures pose for collective ownership and trust. It argues that the credibility of MC14 will depend on whether Members perceive the process as inclusive and balanced, and whether the Ministerial provides a clear and legitimate pathway for shaping the WTO’s future direction. The note also includes recommendations.
WTO Reform: Mapping Submissions and the Facilitator’s Draft Work Plan
An Analytical Note on Member Positions Across the Facilitator’s Reform Tracks, 8 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This paper maps seven WTO submissions and examines them in light of outputs emerging from the WTO reform process, including the Reform Facilitator’s Draft Ministerial Decision and Flexible Post-MC14 Work Plan. Using comparative tables, it reviews Member positions across core reform elements, including overall reform vision, scope and sequencing; decision-making, consensus and governance; plurilaterals and Annex 4; development and Special and Differential Treatment (S&DT); agriculture, industrial policy and level-playing-field issues; dispute settlement; and Secretariat and institutional questions. The paper also distils key observations on the Reform Facilitator’s Draft Ministerial Statement and Work Plan, examining how their structure and thematic emphasis align with different Member positions. It notes the relative prominence of EU and US framings across several reform tracks, alongside areas where longstanding developing country concerns, including agriculture, consensus-based decision-making, and treaty-based S&DT, are less explicitly reflected.
WTO Reform: Institutional Authority and the Boundaries of the Facilitator-led Process
An Analytical Note on the WTO Reform Facilitator-led Process and Work Plan, 8 February 2026
By Vahini Naidu
This analytical note examines the WTO reform process reflected in the Draft Ministerial Statement and the proposed Post MC14 Work Plan dated 3 February 2026. It assesses whether the current process provides a sound basis for transmitting any reform outcome to Ministers at MC14. The note identifies procedural, institutional, and substantive concerns arising from the increasing reliance on facilitation led, non-consensual materials, limited anchoring in prior Ministerial mandates, and drafting choices that risk normalising a particular framing of reform in the absence of Member convergence. It highlights sequencing problems, the narrowing of the development agenda through its conflation with special and differential treatment, the premature elevation of plurilateral integration, and the marginal treatment of dispute settlement. These concerns suggest that the proposed Work Plan risks constraining Member-driven deliberation and weakening institutional balance. The note concludes that the Work Plan should not be treated as a basis for any reform outcome to be transmitted to Ministers at this stage.
MC14 in Yaoundé: Process and Modalities
An Analytical Note on the DG’s Revised Road to Yaoundé MC14 Working Draft (JOB/TNC/127/Rev.2/Add.1), 26 January 2026
By Vahini Naidu, Trade for Development Programme, South Centre
This paper provides an analytical assessment of the revised “Road to Yaoundé” for the Fourteenth WTO Ministerial Conference (MC14). It examines the design of the proposed Ministerial programme and process, with a focus on their implications for inclusivity, balance, collective ministerial engagement, and the legitimacy of outcomes. The analysis considers how structural and procedural choices may shape ministerial deliberation and political signalling at MC14, particularly in light of the long-overdue fulfilment of development mandates and growing systemic challenges facing the multilateral trading system.
30 Years supporting advancing multilateral rules for the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of biological diversity
By Dr. Viviana Munoz Tellez
South Centre 30th Anniversary Series No. 1, 7 January 2026
Countries are bound through international agreements to advance biodiversity conservation, including by maintaining genetic diversity, to ensure sustainable use of biodiversity and advance both access and fair and equitable sharing of benefits from the utilization of genetic resources and associated traditional knowledge. These obligations are also reasserted in the United Nations (UN) agreed Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
There are several international agreements in which these issues are addressed, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA Treaty), the Agreement under the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea on the Conservation and Sustainable Use of Marine Biological Diversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), as well as fora where these issues are debated or negotiated, such as those conducted under the auspices of the World Health Organization (WHO), the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants (UPOV), the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the World Trade Organization (WTO).
The South Centre has provided constant support over the years to developing countries in advancing their common interests in this field and ensuring coherence and synergies among the different conventions and negotiations.
Why Is the Oligopoly in the Credit-Rating Market So Tenacious?
By Yuefen Li
International Banker article,
Large, established credit rating agencies (CRAs) wield immense influence and power over the global financial system and the world economy as a whole. In normal times, CRAs can significantly impact financial markets, financial-instrument issuers’ behaviors and investors’ perceptions, thus constituting a major determinant of the cost of borrowing and the direction of the money flow. During economic downturns, rating downgrades can become self-fulfilling, as herd behavior amplifies the effects of ratings. A downgrade by a major ratings agency can make or break an entire economy, as witnessed during the European debt crisis. The then prime minister of Greece accused the ratings agencies of “seeking to shape our destiny and determine the future of our children.” …
