Favelas hold conferences to send suggestions to the G20

Representatives of favelas from several countries began on Monday (29.Apr.2024) a series of conferences to discuss problems and solutions for these territories, in preparation for the summit of the G20, the group of the 20 largest economies in the world, which will be held in November, in Rio.

The 1st International Conference on Favelas-20 is being held in Complexo da Penha, in Rio.

Until September this year, conferences are planned in more than 3,000 favelas in the 27 states of the federation and in 40 other countries, such as Mozambique, Congo, Kazakhstan and Belgium.

The idea is to gather proposals to deliver to the leaders of the G20, which brings together 19 of the world’s main economies, in addition to the European Union and the African Union.

“Favelas contribute a lot to the country’s development, with their workforce. And the thoughts that the favela has are usually not used by the public authorities, because the favela is not consulted on relevant topics. And now, with the G20, it is an opportunity for us for the favela to organize itself, to focus on the themes that interest us”said Celso Athayde, co-founder of Cufa (Central Única das Favelas).

“It is the chance that the favela has to show that it has the capacity to think about the themes that governments are proposing: sustainability, human rights, [redução da] inequality”these.

According to Athayde, after local conferences in the favelas, state and national events will be held in 41 countries.

“We are going to make these people’s voices heard. Whether the heads of state will take it into consideration after listening is their responsibility. Our responsibility is to organize and demonstrate that favelas cannot just be supporting actors. They need to be protagonists when the agenda is also theirs”he stated.

With information from Agência Brasil.