Social Watch E-Newsletter - Issue 362 - March 20, 2020

The Covid19 pandemia is a global health crisis (with major financial and economic consequences) but international organizations, starting with the World Health Organization “are still insufficiently funded to respond quickly to the emergence of dangerous diseases - and to prevent them from spreading to global pandemics” argue Jens Martens and Bodo Ellmers, from Global Policy Forum in a briefing paper published last March 18. People in most Global South countries are likely to suffer its impact even more and therefore “in order to prevent the corona crisis from becoming a global development crisis, solidarity must not end at national borders.” Read more

Ollivier de Sutter, former Special Rapporteur of the United Nations on the Right to Food (2008 to 2014) was voted by the Human Rights Council in its March 13 session as Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, from May 1 on.
Commenting on his appointment, De Sutter wrote: “Ironic turn of history: in May 2008, I inaugurated my mandate as Special Rapporteur on the right to food in a context of unprecedented crisis, with an explosion in food prices linked both to a barrel of oil at the highest and speculation on the markets, as well as restrictions on exports of food products ... Twelve years later, this new appointment comes at a time when a major economic recession is coming, with business closings chain, massive job losses, and an increase in poverty in the face of exhausted social protection systems.” Read more

Social Watch Philippines, together with a number of Filipino academics and civil society representatives, present a policy matrix that identifies urgent issues, provides analyses and outlines recommendations on trade and development from a wide range of actors from civil society, the academe, and private sector in time for the preparatory process leading to the UNCTAD XV Conference to be held in Barbados from 18 to 23 October 2020.
Many of the positions contained in the matrix were presented to various government agencies in a spirit of policy dialogue. Read more

An initial assessment of the impact of COVID-19 on the global world of work says the effects will be far-reaching, pushing millions of people into unemployment, underemployment and working poverty, and proposes measures for a decisive, co-ordinated and immediate response.
The economic and labour crisis created by the COVID-19 pandemic could increase global unemployment by almost 25 million, according to a new assessment by the International Labour Organization (ILO). Read more

Due to the Covid-19 pandemia, many UN meetings scheduled for March, April and May have been cancelled, postponed or reduced in time and participation. As of March 20 we do not know yet what will happen to the meeting of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) of next July. The HLPF should review at ministerial level the Agenda 2030 and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals, including the presentation of national reports from dozens of countries. Social Watch remains committed to support alternative civil society reporting and disseminate their findings. Guidelines for the 2020 Social Watch contributions were made available here in here in English. The Guidelines are also available in French and Spanish. As the coronavirus pandemia is affecting all countries, with more severe impacts expected among the poor, we particularly welcome the reporting, even if partial, on how societies are being affected and mobilizing to face the crisis, cope and care.