In a bold step toward reshaping the global financial order, the United Nations has launched a new platform designed to amplify the collective voice of debt-distressed countries.
Known as the Borrowers’ Forum, the initiative was officially unveiled on Wednesday during the UN’s flagship sustainable development conference in Sevilla.
The launch comes amid a mounting debt crisis that threatens to derail economic stability and development across much of the Global South.
With debt servicing now outpacing spending on health and education in many low- and middle-income countries, the UN says the Borrowers’ Forum is both timely and urgent.
Described as a cornerstone of the “Sevilla Commitment”, the conference’s main outcome document, the Borrowers’ Forum is part of a sweeping package of reforms aimed at leveling the playing field in global debt governance—long criticized for favoring powerful creditors.
“Developing countries often face a wall of unified creditors—but they negotiate alone, divided and unsupported,” said Rebeca Grynspan, Secretary-General of the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). “This platform is about more than speaking—it’s about shaping outcomes.”
Grynspan revealed that over 3.4 billion people—nearly half the world’s population—live in countries that spend more on repaying external debts than on essential services like healthcare and education.
The new Forum, she said, will offer a space for peer collaboration, technical and legal assistance, and the promotion of responsible lending and borrowing standards.
“For decades, debtor nations have demanded a seat at the table. This Forum gives them one—and strengthens their negotiating hand,” she added.
The Forum was one of 11 strategic recommendations presented by the UN Secretary-General’s Expert Group on Debt, aimed at modernizing and humanizing the global debt system.
Ministers from the Global South—including finance and foreign affairs officials—hailed the Forum as a potential game-changer. Many called it a long-overdue mechanism to correct systemic imbalances that have left many economies locked in a cycle of borrowing, austerity, and underdevelopment.
“This isn’t just a policy shift—it’s an act of global justice,” said Mahmoud Mohieldin, the UN Special Envoy on Financing the 2030 Agenda. “The Borrowers’ Forum marks a turning point in our collective effort to prevent the next debt crisis—before it begins.”
The Sevilla Commitment (Compromiso de Sevilla), adopted by consensus, outlines a vision for a more transparent, coordinated, and resilient international debt system. It calls for:
Greater debt transparency,
Enhanced creditor coordination,
Exploration of a multilateral legal framework for sovereign debt restructuring, and
Increased support for debt-for-nature and debt-for-climate swaps.
It also promotes debt payment suspension clauses for countries hit by natural disasters or climate shocks—an urgent issue for vulnerable small island and African nations.
However, not everyone left Sevilla satisfied.
Civil society organizations voiced frustration at what they see as an underwhelming outcome. Jason Braganza, Executive Director of the African Forum and Network on Debt and Development (AFRODAD), called the Sevilla document “disappointingly tepid.”
“It started with low ambition—and ended with even less,” Braganza remarked. “Close to half of Africa is in debt distress, yet our people are forced to prioritize interest payments over hospitals, schools, and clean water.”
Despite his criticism, Braganza praised the persistent advocacy by the African Group and Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS), both of whom pushed for the creation of a UN Framework Convention on Sovereign Debt. He described the initiation of a new intergovernmental process as a “small but meaningful breakthrough” that could lead to deeper reform in future negotiations.
