Debt and COVID-19: A Global Response in Solidarity
Since the global financial crisis of 2008 public external debt in many developing countries has increased. The increasing indebtedness reflected the funding required to finance domestic investment-savings gaps. It was also encouraged by the long period of unusually low international interest rates and unprecedented levels of global liquidity associated with quantitative easing. Developing countries including least developed countries (LDCs) increased access to commercial financing. Lending by non-Paris Club official creditors also increased. The negative economic social and financial impacts will likely outlast the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic and hit hardest poor developing and highly indebted countries. Beyond dealing with the immediate pandemic additional resources will also be needed to stimulate demand regenerate jobs and restore supply capacity to pre-crisis levels let alone to achieve the SDGs. The e-book for this policy brief has been converted into an accessible format for the visually impaired and people with print reading disabilities. It is fully compatible with leading screen-reader technologies such as JAWS and NVDA.
Focus: Changement climatique, patrimoine mondial, COVID-19 et tourisme
Le changement climatique est la menace qui se développe le plus rapidement pour le patrimoine mondial. Des canaux de Venise en Italie aux forêts de la région sauvage de Tasmanie en Australie le patrimoine mondial est en danger.
The COVID-19 Crisis: What Explains Cross-country Differences in the Pandemic’s Short-term Economic Impact?
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development
The report fosters understanding of the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on trade and development and reflects on actions that can propel us to the future we want. It provides up-to-date data and analysis on the impact of COVID-19 on trade and development; identifies sustained trends to characterize the "new normal"; and provides policy recommendations to build a more resilient inclusive and sustainable future.
Violence Against Women and Girls Data Collection during COVID-19
This is a living document that summarizes principles and recommendations to those planning to embark on data collection on the impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on violence against women and girls (VAWG). It was informed by the needs and challenges identified by colleagues in regional and country offices and has benefited from their input. It responds to the difficulties of adhering to methodological ethical and safety principles in the context of the physical distancing and staying at home measures imposed in many countries.
Protecting and Supporting Vulnerable Groups Through the Covid-19 Crisis
Covid-19 is hitting vulnerable people the hardest. This is already devastating in high-income countries with comprehensive and effective health and welfare systems but it may well be catastrophic in those without and especially in low-income and least developed countries. How exactly are interventions to address the novel coronavirus pandemic—by governments and non-state actors—affecting vulnerable groups? This report presents the main trends effectiveness and unintended consequences of policies and other interventions brought to light by a recent survey carried out by UNRISD. It also discusses good practices as well as what more could be done to protect and support vulnerable groups now and going forward. Taken together these unique insights can help inform the design of future policies and interventions to leave no one behind in addressing this pandemic as well as public health crises to come.
Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Trade and Development
This report aims at documenting and assessing shifts that the COVID-19 crisis has triggered in economies societies and cooperation in UNCTAD’s core areas of work: the integrated treatment of trade and development and interrelated issues in the areas of finance technology investment and sustainable development. It will provide lessons learned from this crisis and policy recommendations on what is needed to promote a resilient inclusive and sustainable recovery and dealing better with future challenges.
COVID-19 préparation et intervention dans les lieux de détention
Les informations contenues dans ce dossier sont destinées à aider les administrateurs et le personnel des prisons. Il a été élaboré pour garantir la sécurité du personnel des détenus et du public dans le cadre des efforts visant à empêcher l’entrée de COVID-19 (coronavirus) dans la prison et à en atténuer l’impact en cas d’épidémie. La lutte contre COVID-19 nécessite une préparation et une réponse adaptées en particulier dans les lieux de détention (prisons). Le personnel pénitentiaire joue un rôle crucial en contribuant à l’effort de prévention de la propagation de la maladie en promouvant des environnements pénitentiaires plus sûrs et en répondant aux épidémies de manière opportune et efficace. Les mesures préventives entraîneront très probablement des perturbations importantes dans les routines ordinaires des prisons et obligeront l’administration à prendre des décisions difficiles qui pourraient restreindre ou limiter les opérations et les activités des prisons. Répondre à une épidémie de COVID-19 une fois que le virus s’est propagé dans la prison est un défi important en particulier dans des conditions de surpopulation.
COVID-19 and the Need for Action on Mental Health
Although the COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis is in the first instance a physical health crisis it has the seeds of a major mental health crisis as well if action is not taken. Good mental health is critical to the functioning of society at the best of times. It must be front and centre of every country’s response to and recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. The mental health and wellbeing of whole societies have been severely impacted by this crisis and are priorities to be addressed urgently. Rapid implementation of recommended actions will be essential to ensure people and societies are better protected from the mental health impact of COVID-19. The e-book for this policy brief has been converted into an accessible format for the visually impaired and people with print reading disabilities. It is fully compatible with leading screen-reader technologies such as JAWS and NVDA.
Protecting Children from Violence in the Time of COVID-19
Violence is an all-too-real part of life for children around the globe – regardless of their economic circumstances and sociocultural background – with both immediate and long-term consequences. Available data indicate that children’s experience of violence is widespread taking different forms: About half the world’s children are subjected to corporal punishment at home; roughly 3 in 4 children between the ages of 2 and 4 years receive violent discipline by parents and other primary caregivers; half of students aged 13 to 15 experience peer violence in and around school; and 1 in 3 adolescent girls aged 15 to 19 have been victims of intimate partner violence. As daily lives and communities are upended by COVID-19 concern is mounting that violence against children may increase. Children with a history of abuse may find themselves even more vulnerable both at home and online and may experience more frequent and severe acts of violence. Others may be victimized for the first time. Children’s exposure to increased protection risks as a result of the coronavirus crisis may occur through a number of pathways. The pandemic could result in loss of parental care due to death illness or separation thereby placing children at heightened risk for violence neglect and exploitation.
The Impact of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition
The COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic is a health and human crisis threatening the food security and nutrition of millions of people around the world. Hundreds of millions of people were already suffering from hunger and malnutrition before the virus hit and unless immediate action is taken we could see a global food emergency. In the longer term the combined effects of COVID-19 itself as well as corresponding mitigation measures and the emerging global recession could without large-scale coordinated action disrupt the functioning of food systems. Such disruption can result in consequences for health and nutrition of a severity and scale unseen for more than half a century.
The young people of Mali: Key players against COVID-19
The world is shaken by an unprecedented health crisis. Its multiple ravages are echoing all over the world and the media seem to revel in it as information concerning the situation becomes vital. Needless to say Covid-19 made its appearance at the end of 2019 in Wuhan the capital of the province of Hubei in China and at the start of 2020 continued to spread in an overpowering and dominant way not only characterized by its speed but also in its capacity of adaptation across all continents of the world. China has been overwhelmed. In France there are no longer yellow vest protests. Italy no longer sings and the art world present in the country has closed its doors. It would seem that America in tears suddenly forgot its superpower. The virus rapidly spread also in Latin America with more than 11 thousand cases in 24 hours in Brazil. All of this to show the very serious impact that Covid-19 has provoked on daily life around the world. In fact on March 11 it qualified as a pandemic by the World Health Organization (WHO) exceeding the number of 100 infected countries to all areas of the globe.
Sectores y empresas frente al COVID-19: emergencia y reactivación
En este cuarto Informe Especial elaborado por la Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL) sobre la evolución y los efectos de la pandemia de la COVID-19 (coronavirus) en América Latina y el Caribe el análisis se centra en los efectos de la pandemia en la estructura productiva y empresarial de los países de la región cuyas debilidades se han originado a lo largo de décadas y que se ha visto fuertemente golpeada por la actual coyuntura. Antes de la pandemia la estructura productiva de la región presentaba una gran heterogeneidad estructural que limitaba seriamente las posibilidades de desarrollo económico. La pandemia ha vuelto más evidente estas debilidades y ha amplificado las tensiones económicas sociales y ambientales. En el ámbito productivo la coyuntura plantea la urgencia de mitigar la destrucción de las capacidades sin olvidar la necesidad de aumentar de manera sostenida la productividad generar encadenamientos productivos e incrementar el aprendizaje y la generación y difusión de innovaciones. En este contexto la industria adquiere una importancia estratégica y un rol protagónico en el proceso de crecimiento y en el cambio de la matriz productiva. Para ello se requieren políticas para modificar la estructura productiva es decir incentivos distintos de los que prevalecen en la actualidad para que las empresas privadas junto con el Estado realicen las inversiones necesarias para diversificar la estructura económica garantizar un proceso continuo y estable de crecimiento y evitar retrocesos sociales y ambientales.
The Politics of Economic Insecurity in the COVID-19 Era
Coronagraben: Culture and Social Distancing in Times of COVID-19
Social distancing measures have been introduced in many countries in response to the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic. The rate of compliance to these measures has varied substantially. This research paper studies how cultural differences can explain this variance using data on mobility in Swiss cantons between January and May 2020. We find that mobility declined after the outbreak but significantly less in the German-speaking region. Contrary to the evidence in the literature we find that within the Swiss context higher generalized trust in others is strongly associated with lower reductions in individual mobility. We attribute these results to the German-speaking cantons having a combination of not only high interpersonal trust but also conservative political attitudes which may have altered the trade-off between the chance of contracting the virus and the costs associated with significant alterations of daily activities.
Effective Blended Finance in the Era of COVID-19 Recovery
Achieving the SDGs through the COVID-19 Response and Recovery
The impact of COVID-19 (coronavirus) on SDG achievement will only be known with certainty in the months to come but assessments for 2020 are bleak. If responses are ad hoc underfunded and without a view to long-term goals decades of progress stand to be reversed. However as countries begin to move towards recovery coherent and comprehensive actions can place the world on a robust trajectory towards achieving sustainable development. The channels through which the impacts will unfold are being identified and indicate that pre-pandemic progress on many SDGs can mitigate impacts. Building upon this insight this brief suggests that the multilateral system can be pivotal in supporting three strategic priorities during the response and recovery that can set a course for achieving the SDGs—maintaining progress already made; enabling universal access to an expanded set of quality essential services; and reversing the degradation of nature.
The COVID-19 crisis in Latin America in historical perspective
This essay compares the COVID-19 crisis in Latin America with two long-lasting crises (the Great Depression and the debt crisis) and two more recent and shorter ones (the 1997 Asian crisis and the 2008–2009 North Atlantic crisis). The analysis indicates that almost all external shocks whether associated with external financing the terms of trade trade volumes or remittances have been weaker during the current crisis. What has mainly been lacking is international financial cooperation. The severity of the crisis has therefore been due more to domestic factors: the fact that the region was the global epicentre of the pandemic for several months and that the crisis has come on top of five years of poor economic performance and three decades of slow growth. For this reason the region needs to change its development patterns on top of implementing policies to overcome the crisis.
COVID-19: Embracing Digital Government During the Pandemic and Beyond
Information and communication technologies (ICTs) play a vital role in promoting the health and safety of people and in keeping economies and societies working during the ongoing COVID-19 (coronavirus) crisis. Digital government technologies either through information sharing or online services have kept governments and people connected during the outbreak. Digital technologies have also enabled governments to make rapid policy decisions based on real-time data and analytics to enhance the capacities of local authorities for better coordination and to deploy evidence-based services to those who need them most. The efforts in developing digital government strategies after the COVID-19 crisis should focus on improving data protection and digital inclusion policies as well as on strengthening the policy and technical capabilities of public institutions. Even though public-private partnerships are essential for implementing innovative technologies government leadership strong institutions and effective public policies are crucial to tailor digital solutions to countries’ needs as well as prioritize security equity and the protection of people’s rights. The COVID-19 pandemic has emphasized the importance of technology but also the pivotal role of an effective inclusive and accountable government. This policy brief addresses how digital government has played a central role as a key tool of communication and collaboration between policymakers and society during the COVID-19 pandemic. Policymakers need to further embrace the future of digital government even when the crisis is over.
Close-Up: Climate change, World Heritage, COVID-19 and tourism
Climate change is the fastest-growing threat to World Heritage globally. From the canals of Venice in Italy to the forests of the Tasmanian wilderness in Australia World Heritage is at risk.