As CIDSE celebrates its 60th anniversary this year, we are happy to share with you some of the moments that have marked the history of our network. We decided to focus on the last decade, which was intense and full and made our selection difficult.
2015
2015 marked the 50th anniversary of CIDSE. In July, as part of the celebrations, we co-organised with the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace a conference on the newly published encyclical Laudato Si’ to help understand and spread Pope Francis’ powerful call to fight climate change and inequalities at all levels of our societies.
Photo: Participants at the conference “People and Planet First: the Imperative to Change Course”, July 2015. Credit: CIDSE.
2016
Building on our paradigm shift work of the previous years, CIDSE launched its 2016-2021 Strategic Framework “Acting for transformation – for a just and sustainable world”, which offered a roadmap for advancing CIDSE’s systemic change approach.
Photo: Civil society demonstration at COP21 in Paris, cover of the CIDSE 2016-2021 Strategic Framework. Credit: Mark Dixon/Blue Lens.
2017
As part of CIDSE’s joint initiative, Change for the Planet – Care for the People, the international photo competition “Inspire Change Through your Lens” showcased citizen-led initiatives on sustainable production and consumption of food and energy around the world.
Photo: A beekeeper and his grandson look towards the horizon as the sun sets. Image taken in the Ardennes, Belgium. Credit: Sébastien Pins, Winner of the non-professional category/CIDSE.
2018
CIDSE published the “Principles of Agroecology”, the result of a landmark collaborative effort. The aim of this project was to further develop a common vision and understanding of agroecology in dialogue with partner organisations, allies and decision-makers.
Photo: Herbarium, The Philippines. Credit: CIDSE.
2019
The Synod of Bishops for the Pan-Amazon Region was an extraordinary opportunity to further the Church’s work on social and environmental justice. The CIDSE network was mobilised throughout the year to contribute its expertise to the discussions in the preparatory process and in Rome.
Photo: Opening Mass of the Synod in Rome, October 2019. Credit: CIDSE.
2020
When the pandemic hit in 2020, CIDSE, like many others, had to rethink its priorities and ways of working and become a new network overnight, without losing sight of its goals. Systemic change gained its place on the global agenda and can’t be ignored any longer. Together with many other allied organisations, CIDSE pledged to “Build Back Better”.
Photo Credit: Adeyinka Yusuf.
2021
Despite the restrictions caused by the pandemic, which prevented the participation of many of our partners, CIDSE worked with allies at COP26 to fight for climate justice and raise the voices of the most vulnerable. We supported the organisation of the “Glasgow Climate Dialogues”, which resulted in the publication of a communiqué informing governments of the key issues for the global South: participation and fair access, adaptation, loss and damage, and a global just transition.
Photo: COP26 Conference Action Zone, Glasgow, 2021. Credit: CIDSE.
2022
Following the release of the European Commission’s proposal for a Corporate Sustainability Due Diligence Directive (CSDDD), and as a continuation of our 2021 campaign on access to justice, we joined the Justice is Everybody’s Business campaign. CIDSE, together with its members and allies, has been working for many years to ensure that the voices of communities resisting corporate power are heard and for a strong EU legislation on corporate due diligence that meets their expectations. In parallel, our network is calling for a UN legally binding instrument on business and human rights and for complementarity between the two initiatives.
Photo: March in memory of the victims of the 2019 dam collapse in Brumadinho, Brazil, 2022. Credit: Guilherme Cavalli, Iglesias y Minería.
2023
The 2nd Thematic Social Forum on Mining and the Extractive Economy (TSF) brought together a diverse range of participants from around the world who are resisting mining and extractivism in their territories, and aimed to consolidate a broad movement to say, ‘No to Mining and Yes to Life’. As with the first forum held in South Africa in 2018, CIDSE played an important coordinating role and was present with a strong delegation of members and partners from the global South.
Photo: TSF participants, Semarang, Indonesia, October 2023. Credit: Patrick Piro.
2024
2024 saw a worsening of the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza strip after the Israeli military response to the 7 October 2023 attack by Hamas-led factions. CIDSE intensified its advocacy work with allies calling for an immediate ceasefire, an end to the siege of Gaza, humanitarian access to all its civilians and the release of all Israeli hostages. The root causes of the ongoing violence, the Israeli occupation and systematic discrimination of Palestinians, only perpetuates human suffering and must be ended: in CIDSE calls on governments to honour their obligations under international law and ensure accountability for violations, and reaffirms the centrality of human rights and humanitarian law as a collective reference for all.
Photo: National demonstration calling for a ceasefire in Palestine, Brussels, October 2024. Credit: CIDSE.