Shaping Whose Future?
APWLD’s Statement on UNCTAD16
As global leaders prepare to convene for 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) in Geneva from 20-23 October 2025, the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) calls for a feminist reimagining of global trade and development.
Our statement, “Shaping Whose Future? APWLD’s Statement on UNCTAD16,” raises urgent questions about whose interests the global economy truly serves, and demands that women, workers and communities from the Global South are at the centre of any discussion on debt, digital economies and critical minerals.
The 16th United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD16) will be held in Geneva from 20-23 October 2025 under the theme “Shaping the future: Driving economic transformation for equitable, inclusive and sustainable development”. It comes at a time when the global economy is in massive turmoil, with heightened geopolitical tensions, trade wars and arbitrary tariffs exacerbating multiple crises and inequality in the Global South, and women and marginalised communities bearing the heaviest burden.
UNCTAD was established in 1964 as a hard-won demand from the Global South to counterbalance the Bretton Woods institutions and provide space for developing countries to pursue international economic reform and structural transformation. UNCTAD’s mandate to support the needs and interests of developing countries in the global economy is more pronounced than ever, especially after the outcomes of the Fourth Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) fell largely short of systemic reform. As a feminist civil society, we see UNCTAD16 as another test of multilateralism, and a critical forum to counter the false solutions and gender-blind analysis which define the Compromiso de Sevilla.
The upcoming UNCTAD16 marks a significant departure from its long history of meaningful engagement with civil society organisations (CSOs). The limited information and lack of substantive opportunities have severely restricted CSOs’ participation. Compounding this, no negotiating text has been made available to civil society organisations since the zero draft of the outcome document was circulated in early April 2025, a text that was also substantially revised by member states. This exclusion prevents CSOs from providing constructive inputs on a document that will profoundly affect people’s lives, particularly women and other marginalised communities.
It is in this context that APWLD seeks to advance the following key issues and feminist demands to be addressed and highlighted in the zero draft for UNCTAD16.
