A Call to Action Meeting in Belgrade on the occasion of the 2019 International Civil Society Week, the Civil Society Partnership for Development Effectiveness (CPDE), CIVICUS, Action for Sustainable Development, Civic Initiatives and the Balkan Civil Society Development Network have urgently convoked global civil society leaders and organizations to launch the Belgrade Call to Action.1

This Call is addressed to Governments and Member States of the United Nations to take urgent action to reverse deteriorating conditions for civil society and attacks on human rights and environmental defenders around the world, in the context of the 2030 Agenda. A fully engaged civil society and population are essential if the international community is to truly deliver the promises of Agenda 2030 to leave no one behind in achieving the seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Open civic space and peoples’ participation provide an essential foundation to achieve key Agenda 2030 commitments to ‘leave no one behind’, to reduce inequalities, to address gender inequality and women’s empowerment, to promote decent work for all, and to realize climate justice and environmental sustainability for a planet under siege.