Thematic Priorities

In the context of increasing crises and conflicts, climate change, and growing inequalities, strong multilateralism is essential to respond to global challenges. It provides an essential framework for promoting poverty reduction, defending human rights and sustainable development, including through international organizations and especially the United Nations.

The C7’s work on multilateralism focuses on several aspects, such as:

• Strengthening the international system, based on respect for the United Nations Charter, international law, and human rights.
• Reforming international organizations, particularly the United Nations Security Council, to adopt a transparent, inclusive, and human rights-based approach.
• Ensuring sustainable and predictable funding for United Nations institutions.

Around the world, civic space is shrinking due to repressive dynamics, growing threats, and declining funding. Attacks on the freedoms of expression, association and assembly are multiplying, targeting journalists, protesters, as well as human rights and environmental defenders.

In this context, the C7’s work on civic space focuses on several key priorities:

• An enabling environment for civil society’s action and expression
• Protecting the digital civic space
• The meaningful and inclusive participation of civil society in national and international decision-making
• Protecting human rights and environmental defenders

Development cooperation is going through a critical period, characterized mainly by historic cuts to Official Development Assistance (ODA) and by a redefinition of its priorities toward increasingly transactional approaches. These shifts are undermining trust and reducing the transparency of cooperation, directly endangering the most vulnerable populations.

In this context, the C7’s work on development cooperation and finance focuses on several key priorities:

• Commitment to allocating 0.7% of GNI to Official Development Assistance
• Improving the quality of ODA, targeting essential public services by strengthening transparency and effectiveness
• Strengthening the role of civil society through flexible and accessible funding
• Reforming development cooperation governance

The debt crisis and unfair international tax rules severely limit the capacity of many countries, particularly in the Global South, to fund essential public services. In many cases, spending on debt servicing exceeds that allocated to health or education. At the same time, tax evasion and tax optimization by multinationals and wealthy individuals deprive states of essential public resources.

These imbalances reflect structural inequalities in global economic governance. Rebalancing this governance is essential to build a fairer, more inclusive international financial architecture capable of supporting sustainable development.

In this context, the C7’s work on economic justice focuses on several key priorities:

• Reforming the international debt management system
• Strengthening international tax cooperation, to combat tax evasion and ensure more equitable taxation
• Ensuring the effective participation of Global South countries to promote a more inclusive global economic governance

As the rights of women and LGBTQIA+ people are facing a worrying rollback globally, attacks on gender equality and sexual and reproductive health rights are becoming more organized and gaining influence, driven by structured anti-rights movements.

In this context, the C7’s work on gender equality focuses on several key priorities:

• Mainstreaming gender considerations in G7 decision-making
• Supporting and funding feminist organizations
• The participation of feminist organizations, women, youth, and LGBTQIA+ people in decision-making bodies

The humanitarian sector is facing a systemic crisis: the multiplication of conflicts, shrinking humanitarian space, and repeated violations of international humanitarian law within a weakened multilateral system. In 2025, only $15 billion was mobilized out of more than $45 billion required, severely undermining the effectiveness of humanitarian responses, particularly for people in vulnerable situations.

In this context, the C7’s work on humanitarian assistance focuses on several key priorities:

• Respect for international humanitarian law and humanitarian principles
• Protecting the humanitarian space
• Flexible and predictable humanitarian funding
• Inclusive reform of the humanitarian sector, strengthening local participation

The worsening climate crisis and the multiplication of its effects are today impacting millions of people, particularly the most vulnerable, especially within a new geopolitical order marked by a rise in climate skepticism and transactional logic.

An increase in financing for climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development is necessary to enable a just transition in line with commitments made notably at COP28.

In this context, the C7’s work on climate and biodiversity focuses on several key priorities:

• Mobilizing ambitious and predictable financing for climate and biodiversity
• The taxation of polluting sectors and windfall profits to finance the ecological transition
• Phasing out fossil fuel subsidies and investing in renewable energy and sustainable infrastructures
• A just and equitable energy transition
• Responsible management of transition minerals

Contact: Gaïa Febvre, Climate Action Network (CAN) France

Health is a pillar of international stability, economic prosperity and Sustainable Development Goals. Yet, in 2023, 4.6 billion people lacked access to essential health services, representing more than half of the world’s population. As funding for health declines, hunger rises, and climate change continues to worsen health risks.

In this context, the C7’s work on global health focuses on:

• Universal access to high-quality and people-centered care
• Strengthening community systems and women’s leadership
• Sustainable and equitable health financing
• Health-climate integration and the One Health approach

Contacts: Yann Illiaquer, Lucile Hermant — Global Health Advocates (GHA) France