EU-Latin America, Time for a new partnership

In view of the European summit with Latin America and Caribbean States (CELAC) on 17-18 July 2023, which the respective political leaders are currently preparing for, Caritas Europa co-wrote a joint contribution to call for a renewed partnership that brings hope and fosters equality.

The document was issued in collaboration with Caritas Latin America and the Caribbean, the Latin American Episcopal Council and the Commission of the Bishops’ Conferences of the European Union (COMECE).

At a time of serious security, socio-economic and ecological challenges, our humanitarian and development organisations hope that the renewed cooperation between the EU and the Latin America and the Caribbean regions will tackle the structural causes that undermine social justice and cohesion. Based on our organisations’ daily accompaniment of people experiencing situations of vulnerability, we propose to orient the future EU-CELAC partnership around three pillars:

• Integral human development & social justice;
• Integral ecology & care for our common home;
• Peace & culture of encounter.

Under each pillar, we suggest several areas and concrete initiatives to put this vision into action toward corporate accountability, fair trade rules, production and business models that protect human rights and the environment, sustainable and inclusive food systems, just global financial and debt architecture, and democratic ownership of decision-making processes.

We believe and hope that the proposals in our joint contribution may be helpful to decision-makers in the run-up to the EU-CELAC Summit and beyond.