Brazil Office Joins the Letter of 20 Organizations with 20 Proposals for the G20

WBO Press Release
Nov 18 2024

On November 15, 2024, the Brazil Office adhered to a document originally proposed by the Instituto Novos Paradigmas (INP), called “20 Proposals for the G20 – For Democracy and Equity and for Confronting Authoritarianism.”

Paulo Abrão, executive director of the Washington Brazil Office (WBO) participated in the launch of the document together with representatives of 19 other signatory organizations on Friday, November 15 in Rio de Janeiro.

“We live in a time when capitalist development – ​​ultra-neoliberal and extractive, based on the extinction of fundamental, human, and social rights achieved through the struggle of society – and reactionary and authoritarian extremism has put at risk and even impeded the dream of a society with equality and justice,” states the text, adding that “democratic forces need to find ways to defend and build ways of life with the preservation and enjoyment of common goods to safeguard humanity itself and the planet.”

The 20 points raised by the document deal with:

1. Defending democracy as a way a society should be organized

2. Promoting equality and equity by confronting inequalitie 

3. Making progress in overcoming hateful practices, intolerance, and discrimination

4. Promoting the defense of the secular nature of the State

5. Making progress in consolidating the policy of social participation and mechanisms of direct democracy

6. Combating the weakening of democratic dynamics and structures

7. Overcoming the model of infinite accumulation with colonialist, predatory, and expropriatory practices

8. Confronting the corporate power that increasingly surrounds our lives

9. Expanding the formation of a democratic and egalitarian political culture

10. Confronting disinformation and fake news to prevent political manipulation and protect democracy throughout the world and in the Global South

11. Defending and strengthening the institutions and bodies responsible for electoral processes and the exercise of democratic freedoms

12. Promoting the democratization of state institutions, the bodies and functions of the justice system, and the public legal professions

13. Promoting the review and improvement of electoral and party systems

14. Criminalizing political violence and attacks on democracy

15. Protecting human rights defenders, humanitarian, environmental and peace activists, as well as the freedom and plurality of the press

16. Classifying poverty and hunger as crimes against humanity

17. Proposing and demanding compliance with global policies for mitigating and adapting to climate change that are fair and equitable

18. Strengthening solidarity among societies, peoples, and governments and expanding support and direct cooperation with organized civil society to build another possible world

19. Strengthening multilateralism and cooperation between states and governments

20. Establishing an alliance among countries of the Global South for democracy and equity