The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
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Week ending 23 January 2021 :: Number 351

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

PDF– The Sentinel_ period ending 23 Jan 2021

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities   [see PDF]
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles

Global Governance – Risk Assessment/Mitigation

The World Needs to Wake Up to Long-Term Risks
World Economic Forum
News 19 Jan 2021
:: In 2020, the world saw the catastrophic effects of ignoring long-term risks such as pandemics, now an immediate risk according to the Global Risks Report 2021 released today
:: The COVID-19 pandemic is increasing disparities and social fragmentation, in the next 3-5 years will threaten the economy, and in the next 5-10 years will weaken geopolitical stability
:: Meanwhile, environmental concerns still top the list in terms of likelihood and impact for the next decade
:: Read the full report here [97 pages] and find out more about the Global Risks Initiative here

POSTSCRIPT
FORESIGHT ON FRONTIER RISKS [p.84]
In collaboration with the Global Future Council on Frontier Risks
COVID-19 has demonstrated the rapid and cascading impacts of a global catastrophic risk manifested. Pandemics—as well as climate change, debt crises, cyberattacks and others—are high-likelihood, high-impact risks on which we focus our at tent ion each year in the Global Risks Report.

We expand our analysis this year to ask high-level risk experts about potential shocks that are less well known but would have huge impacts if manifested. The purpose of this non-exhaustive list is to encourage more expansive thinking about the universe of risk possibilities in the next decade.

The goal is to better enable preparation, rather than paralysis, as well as resilience in the face of crisis. The list below sets out some of the potential frontier risks that are on the minds of risks analysts.

Accidental war
An inter-state skirmish escalates to war as governments fail to control action in the absence of accurate information. Weakened multilateralism leads to failure to contain.

Anarchic uprising
Young activists, fed up with corruption, inequality and suffering, mobilize against elites. AI-powered social media is exploited to spread disinformation, fomenting social chaos.

Brain-machine interface exploited
Companies, governments or individuals utilize burgeoning “mind-reading” technology to extract data from individuals for commercial or repressive purposes.

Collapse of an established democracy
A democracy turns authoritarian through the progressive hollowing out of the body of law. A legal rather than a violent coup erodes the system, with knock-on effects on other democratic systems.

Geomagnetic disruption
A rapid reversal of the Earth’s geomagnetic poles generates destabilizing consequences for the biosphere and human activity.

Gene editing for human enhancement
Governments begin classified genetic engineering programmes. A class of people is born with genetic capabilities better suited for space, Arctic, or deep-sea survival, setting off a genetic arms race between geopolitical rivals with undetermined ethical consequences.

Neurochemical control
Malicious use of pharmaceutical neurochemicals aims to control adversaries. Governments begin to use these drugs for non-lethal law enforcement.

Permafrost melt releases ancient microorganisms
A warming planet leads to permafrost melt in the Arctic. An ancient virus, unknown in modern science, is released into the air, soil, and water systems.

Deployment of small-scale nuclear weapons
New technology allows for proliferation of low-yield warheads, blurring deterrence frameworks and leading to global nuclear war.

* The views in this section represent those of the Global Future Council on Frontier Risks and not of the World Economic Forum or its partners.

Nuclear Weapons

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement celebrates the entry into force of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons
21-01-2021 | News release
Geneva/New York (ICRC/IFRC) – The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement welcomes the entry into force today of the first instrument of international humanitarian law to include provisions to help address the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using and testing nuclear weapons.

The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) explicitly and unequivocally prohibits the use, threat of use, development, production, testing and stockpiling of nuclear weapons, and it obliges all States Parties to not assist, encourage or induce anyone in any way to engage in any activity prohibited by the Treaty.

“Today is a victory for humanity. This Treaty – the result of more than 75 years of work – sends a clear signal that nuclear weapons are unacceptable from a moral, humanitarian, and now a legal point of view. It sets in motion even higher legal barriers and an even greater stigmatization of nuclear warheads than already exists. It allows us to imagine a world free from these inhumane weapons as an achievable goal,” said Peter Maurer, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

Red Cross and Red Crescent leaders celebrate the entry into force of the TPNW and salute all 51 states[1] whose backing of the Treaty makes clear their refusal to accept nuclear weapons as an inevitable part of the international security architecture. They invite other world leaders, including those of nuclear-armed states, to follow suit and join the path toward a world free of nuclear weapons, in line with long-standing international obligations, notably those under the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

Francesco Rocca, President of the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), said: “The entry into force of this instrument of international humanitarian law comes as a welcome and powerful reminder that despite current global tensions, we can overcome even our biggest and most entrenched challenges, in the true spirit of multilateralism. This capacity to effectively unite and coordinate our action should be called upon as we grapple with other global, deadly challenges.”

The Treaty obliges states to provide assistance, including medical care, rehabilitation and psychological support, to victims under their jurisdiction without discrimination, and ensure their socio-economic inclusion. It also requires states to clear areas contaminated by nuclear use or testing.

“The Treaty is a ground-breaking step to address the legacy of destruction caused by these weapons. The compelling evidence of the suffering and devastation caused by nuclear weapons, and the threat their use may pose to humanity’s survival, makes attempts to justify their use or mere existence increasingly indefensible. It is extremely doubtful that these weapons could ever be used in line with international humanitarian law,” Mr. Maurer said…

Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons – Legal factsheet
The Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) is the first globally applicable multilateral agreement to comprehensively prohibit nuclear weapons.
18-01-2021

Global Governance

Shared Future: Government and Business Leaders Release Guidance for Strengthening Global Cooperation
World Economic Forum
News 21 Jan 2021
:: The World Economic Forum today released a set of seven principles to serve as a new compass for global relations
:: The Principles for Strengthening Global Cooperation call for peace and security, equity, gender equality and sustainability
:: Leaders from Canada, the Netherlands, Japan, South Africa, Goldman Sachs and Google co-chaired the Global Action Group, which formulated the principles
:: The World Economic Forum convened the Global Action Group in 2020 to examine mechanisms for increasing multistakeholder collaboration and to identify a set of shared principles for strengthening global cooperation.
:: See the list of members of the Global Action Group and read the Principles for Strengthening Global Cooperation.

Design – Social Impact

New European Bauhaus: Commission launches design phase
Press release 18 January 2021
Today, the Commission launched the design phase of the New European Bauhaus initiative, announced by President von der Leyen in her 2020 State of the Union address.

The New European Bauhaus is an environmental, economic and cultural project, aiming to combine design, sustainability, accessibility, affordability and investment in order to help deliver the European Green Deal. The core values of the New European Bauhaus are thus sustainability, aesthetics and inclusiveness. The goal of the design phase is to use a co-creation process to shape the concept by exploring ideas, identifying the most urgent needs and challenges, and to connect interested parties. As one element of the design phase, this spring, the Commission will launch, the first edition of the New European Bauhaus prize.

This design phase will lead to the opening of calls for proposals in autumn this year to bring to life New European Bauhaus ideas in at least five places in EU Member States, through the use of EU funds at national and regional level.

European Commission President, Ursula von der Leyen, said: “The New European Bauhaus is a project of hope to explore how we live better together after the pandemic. It is about matching sustainability with style, to bring the European Green Deal closer to people’s minds and homes. We need all creative minds: designers, artists, scientists, architects and citizens, to make the New European Bauhaus a success.”

Background
The New European Bauhaus is a creative initiative, breaking down boundaries between science and technology, art, culture and social inclusion, to allow design to find solutions for everyday problems.

On the dedicated website launched today, artists, designers, engineers, scientists, entrepreneurs, architects, students, and all interested people can share examples of inspiring achievements for the New European Bauhaus, their ideas about how it should be shaped and how it should evolve, as well as their concerns and challenges.

This is the beginning of an innovative co-design process. Organisations that want to put more effort into their engagement in this process can become ‘Partners of the New European Bauhaus,’ by responding to the call on the website.

In the coming months, the Commission will award prizes to existing examples that represent the integration of the key values of the initiative, and that may inspire the discussions about, and the transformation of, the places where we live.

In the next phase of the initiative – the ‘delivery’ phase, five pilot projects will be set up to co-design new sustainable and inclusive solutions with style. The objective of the third phase – ‘dissemination’, is to spread the ideas and concepts defining the New European Bauhaus via new projects, networking and sharing of knowledge, in Europe and beyond.

For more information: New European Bauhaus website & ‘New European Bauhaus explained’

Speech 18 January 2021
Opening remarks by Commissioner Ferreira at the joint press conference with Commissioner Gabriel on the launch of the New European Bauhaus

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Editor’s Note:
Readers will recall that the Bauhaus movement recently celebrated its centenary/100-year anniversary. We share the overview published in Nature as below for reference.

The Bauhaus at 100: science by design
Nicholas Fox Weber uncovers the scientific currents threading through the history of this pioneering German school of design.
Nature, BOOKS AND ARTS, 06 August 2019

Yellow-Red-Blue, a 1925 painting by Wassily Kandinsky, who taught at the Bauhaus from 1922 to 1933. Credit: Fine Art Images/Heritage Images/Getty

The most influential design school in history, the Bauhaus, was founded 100 years ago by visionary German architect Walter Gropius. There, mathematical principles and engineering rigour were applied to fine art, craft and architecture. The school pioneered a splendid amalgamation of science and art.

The Bauhaus aesthetic depended above all on geometric forms, a reflection of machined design and mechanical engineering. It deployed modern industrial materials such as tubular steel and concrete. Yet it was also significantly inspired by nature — a salient source of Bauhaus glory, whether manifested in graphic design, weaving, carpentry, glass, metalwork or wall painting.

The school was born in tumult. In 1916, as the First World War raged, Gropius left the front on temporary leave for Weimar in Germany. He had been invited to teach architecture at the Grand-Ducal Saxon Academy of Fine Art, which would replace the recently closed School of Arts and Crafts. When Gropius returned to his army camp, he began to develop his ideas for an academy that would weld craft to the fine and applied arts.

While studying wartime tools and technologies — guns, cannon and other products of industry — he formulated his programme. He would call his school the Bauhaus: literally, ‘building house’, crisp and apt. It would develop household objects from furniture to tableware: ornament-free, functional and intended for mass production. The school’s workshops would be laboratories where students would gain “an equal command of technology and form”. Unlike the pretentious aesthetic then reigning in Berlin, Bauhaus designs would fulfil real needs. Functionality determined form and governed aesthetic decisions.

Gropius thought scientifically. He encapsulated his philosophy in a 1937 article in The Architectural Record, where he wrote that design demands “an intimate knowledge of biological, social, technical and artistic problems”. He believed that architecture needed to be based in a sure knowledge of materials, and that it must reflect the psychological and sensory impact of shape, texture and colour…

COVID – Travel

Global Tourism Crisis Committee Meets Again to Explore Safe Travel in Age of Vaccines
21 Jan 2021
World Tourism Organization
With countries around the world now rolling out vaccines against the COVID-19 virus, the Committee noted that this opens a critical window in the fight against the pandemic and to promote the safe resumption of international travel. Members highlighted the importance of stepping up coordination, within the framework of the International Health Regulations, of vaccination certificates to ensure the implementation of common, harmonized digital related travel principles, protocols and documents. This would be in line with the work being carried out by the World Health Organization (WHO), which has reported at potential applications of digital technology to enable safe international travel and facilitate arrivals and departures…

Crisis Committee: Recommendations and Next Steps
Meeting on the occasion of the 8th Global Tourism Crisis Committee, held in Madrid, on 18 January 2021 and within the context of the 113th session of the UNWTO Executive Council, the members of the Committee recalled:
[1] That the vaccination opens a critical window of opportunity to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and promote the safe reassuming of international travel alongside other risk mitigation tools such COVID-19 testing.
[2] That according to the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General report to the WHO Executive Council on ‘Strengthening preparedness for health emergencies: implementation of the International Health Regulations (2005); Interim progress report of the Review Committee on the Functioning of the International Health Regulations (2005) during the COVID-19 Response’ the Committee “is looking into the possible applications of digital technology to enable safe international travel, including for documentation at points of entry (arriving and departing travellers), travel history, testing and contact tracing, and possibly vaccination requirements.1
[3] The urgency of accelerating the coordination of international cross-border travel principles and protocols to ensure a safe and seamless restart of tourism in view of the resurge of cases and the continued lack of common principles and mechanisms for testing protocols related to travel.

The Committee called for:
[1] Stepping up the coordination, within the framework of the International Health Regulations2, of vaccination certificates to ensure a timely monitoring, definition and implementation of common, harmonized digital related travel principles, protocols and documents.

[2] Support the standardization, digitalization and interoperability of testing protocols and certification systems, based on commonly agreed evidence and risk-assessment indicators for origin and destination country/territory.

[3] Support of the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)’s initiative for the development and coordination of a harmonised system in all countries to open borders safely in coordination with World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the International Maritime Organization (IMO) and the World Health Organization (WHO).

[4] The implementation of the ICAO CART Take-off Guidance, including the Manual on Testing and Cross-border Risk Management Measures3 and establishing Public Health Corridors (PHCs), in order to advance the harmonization of testing protocols requirements.

[5] Countries to ensure that measures affecting international traffic are risk-based, evidence-based, coherent, proportionate and time limited.

COVID – Food Security Impacts

UN agencies warn economic impact of COVID-19 and worsening inequalities will fuel malnutrition for billions in Asia and the Pacific — FAO-UNICEF-WFP-WHO
Child and maternal diets particularly vulnerable

The report, ‘Asia and the Pacific Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2020: Maternal and Child Diets at the Heart of Improving Nutrition’ launched today in Bangkok, is jointly published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the United Nations Children’s Fund, the World Food Programme and the World Health Organization.

Bangkok, Thailand, 20 January 2021 – The economic impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most populous region is threatening to further undermine efforts to improve diets and nutrition of nearly two billion people in Asia and the Pacific who were already unable to afford healthy diets prior to the pandemic, says a new report published today by four specialized agencies of the United Nations.

The report found that 1.9 billion people were unable to afford a healthy diet, even before the COVID-19 outbreak and the damage it has since caused to economies and individual livelihoods.

Due to higher prices for fruits, vegetables and dairy products, it has become nearly impossible for poor people in Asia and the Pacific to achieve healthy diets, the affordability of which is critical to ensure food security and nutrition for all – and for mothers and children in particular.

Food prices and available incomes govern household decisions on food and dietary intake. But the outbreak of COVID-19 and a lack of decent work opportunities in many parts of the region, alongside significant uncertainty of food systems and markets, has led to a worsening of inequality, as poorer families with dwindling incomes further alter their diets to choose cheaper, less nutritious foods.

Making nutritious foods affordable and accessible
More than 350 million people in the Asia and the Pacific were undernourished in 2019, or roughly half of the global total. Across the region, an estimated 74.5 million children under 5 years of age were stunted (too short for their age) and 31.5 million suffered from wasting (too thin for height). The majority of these children live in Southern Asia with nearly 56 million stunted and more than 25 million wasted. At the same time, overweight and obesity has increased rapidly, especially in South-Eastern Asia and the Pacific, with an estimated 14.5 million children under 5, being overweight or obese.

Poor diets and inadequate nutritional intake is an ongoing problem. The cost of a healthy diet is significantly higher than that of a diet that provides sufficient calories but lacks in nutritional value, showing significant gaps in the food system to deliver nutritious options to all at an affordable price.

These costs are even greater for women and children, given their added nutritional needs.
The report calls for a transformation of food systems in Asia and the Pacific, with an aim to increase the affordability of, and families’ access to, nutritious, safe, and sustainable diets. Nutritious and healthy diets need to be accessible to everyone, everywhere. To ensure that happens, the report recommends integrated approaches and policies are needed. These steps are vital to overcome unaffordability issues, and also to ensure healthy maternal and child diets…

Global Burden of Animal Diseases

Launch of the multi-year, multi-partner Global Burden of Animal Diseases programme
Animal health leaders and researchers from the Global Burden of Animal Diseases (GBADs) programme have secured US$7 million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, to rollout a framework on measuring animal health burdens and their impacts on human lives and economies. The information provided by GBADs will guide public policy and private sector strategy, contributing to improve animal health and welfare more effectively. It will also be a basis for further academic research.

Paris,19 January 2021 – Across the world, livestock production and aquaculture are critical to human nutrition and health. These animals play critical roles in society, providing income and food, but also clothing, building materials, fertilizer and draught power. However, the presence of endemic and emerging diseases, as well as other factors, negatively impact them, jeopardising their contributions.

Every year, hundreds of millions of dollars are invested globally on disease mitigation in order to improve livestock health and productivity. Yet, a systematic way to determine the burden of animal disease on the health and wellbeing of people is not available. It is still unknown how the burden is apportioned between smallholders and the commercial sector, or across regions and gender. Consequently, decision makers lack the information to accurately assess whether their investments target the animal health issues that have the most significant impact on human wellbeing…

Coronavirus [COVID-19] – WHO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
Last update: 23 January 2021
Confirmed cases :: 96 877 399 [week ago: 92 506 811] [two weeks ago: 87 589 206]
Confirmed deaths :: 2 098 879 [week ago: 2 001 773] [two weeks ago: 1 906 606]
Countries, areas or territories with cases :: 224

19 January 2021
Weekly epidemiological update – 19 January 2021
Globally, 4.7 million new cases were reported in the past week, a decline of 6% from last week, and the number of new deaths has climbed to a record high at 93 000, a 9% increase from last week. This brings the cumulative numbers to over 93 million reported cases and over 2 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic.
In this edition of the COVID-19 Weekly Epidemiological Update, special focus updates are provided on: Children, COVID-19, and transmission in schools, as well as on SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

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COVID – COVAX

COVAX announces new agreement, plans for first deliveries
:: COVAX announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine; rollout to commence with successful execution of supply agreements

:: Additionally, COVAX announced that, pending WHO emergency use listings, nearly 150 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford candidate are anticipated to be available in Q1 2021, via existing agreements with the Serum Institute of India (SII) and AstraZeneca

:: COVAX is therefore on track to deliver at least 2 billion doses by the end of the year, including at least 1.3 billion doses to 92 lower income economies in the Gavi COVAX AMC

:: Click here for the latest COVAX supply forecast

Geneva/Oslo 22 January 2021 – COVAX, the global initiative to ensure rapid and equitable access to COVID-19 vaccines for all countries, regardless of income level, today announced the signing of an advance purchase agreement with Pfizer for up to 40 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine candidate, which has already received WHO Emergency Use Listing. Rollout will commence with the successful negotiation and execution of supply agreements.

In further support of its mission to expedite early availability of vaccines to lower-income countries and help bring a rapid end to the acute stage of the COVID-19 pandemic, COVAX also confirmed today that it will exercise an option – via an existing agreement with Serum Institute of India (SII) – to receive its first 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca/Oxford University-developed vaccine manufactured by SII.

Of these first 100 million doses, the majority are earmarked for delivery in the first quarter of the year, pending WHO Emergency Use Listing. The WHO review process, which is currently underway, follows approval for restricted use in emergency situations by the Drugs Controller General of India earlier this month, and is a critical aspect of ensuring that any vaccine procured through COVAX is fully quality assured. According to the latest WHO update, a decision on this vaccine candidate is anticipated in the middle of February at the earliest…

Supply update
COVAX now has agreements in place to access just over two billion doses of several promising vaccine candidates. Negotiations continue for further doses to be secured through existing R&D agreements by COVAX co-lead the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), through evaluations of new products with promising results and through contributions from donors.

Based on this, COVAX anticipates being able to provide participating economies doses of safe and effective vaccines – enough to protect health care and other frontline workers as well as some high-risk individuals – beginning in Q1 2021. The aim is to protect at least 20% of each participating population by the end of the year – unless a participant has requested a lower percentage of doses. At least 1.3 billion of these doses will be made available to the 92 economies eligible for the Gavi COVAX AMC by the end of 2021…

New York Times :: Coronavirus Vaccine Tracker
21 Jan 2021

New additions and recent updates
Jan. 21
Gamaleya begins testing a single-dose version called “Sputnik Light.”
Jan. 21
Turkey’s Erciyes University moves to Phase 2.
Jan. 20
Korea’s Genexine moves to Phase 1/2.
Jan. 21
Gamaleya begins testing a single-dose version called “Sputnik Light.”

UNICEF COVID-19 Vaccine Market Dashboard :: Agreements Table Accessed 23 Jan 2021
An overview of information collected from publicly announced bilateral and multilateral supply agreement [Agreements view from 2021-01-13 to date]

Emergencies

POLIO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 20 January 2021
:: The 148th session of the Executive Board (EB) is currently underway with Member States meeting virtually to discuss the most pressing global health issues including COVID-19 and Polio. The EB reports on both polio eradication and on polio transition planning/post-certification are available here under “148 Executive Board”. These reports will help inform the discussions on polio eradication by Member States.

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives):
:: Pakistan: 10 WPV1 and three cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Afghanistan: 15 cVDPV2 cases and two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples
:: Burkina Faso: one cVDPV2 case
:: Chad: four CVDPV2 cases
:: Guinea: three cVDPV2 cases
:: Sudan: four cVDPV2 cases

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Editor’s Note:
Continuing with this edition, we include information about the last apparent update evident on the WHO emergency country webpages, recognizing almost universal and significant interims between such updates regardless of the level of the emergency listed.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies [to 23 Jan 2021]

Democratic Republic of the Congo – No new digest announcements [Last apparent update: 12 Jan 2021]
Mozambique floods – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 3 November 2020]
Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 29 Jun 2020]
Somalia – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 17 July 2020]
South Sudan – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 4 February 2020]
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 24 October 2020]
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 30 June 2020]

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies [to 23 Jan 2021]
Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 5 July 2020]
Angola – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 03 December 2020]
Burkina Faso – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 17 décembre 2020]
Burundi – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 04 July 2019]
Cameroon – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 22 August 2019]
Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 12 June 2018]
Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 22 August 2019]
Iran floods 2019 – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 12 March 2020]
Iraq – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16 December 2020]
Libya – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 7 October 2019]
Malawi Floods – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 09 October 2019]
Measles in Europe – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16-12-2020]
MERS-CoV – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 8 July 2019]
Mozambique – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 03 November 2020]
Myanmar – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: :: 3 January 2021
Niger – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 29 December 2020]
occupied Palestinian territory – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 4 September 2019]
HIV in Pakistan – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 27 August 2019]
Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017) – No new digest announcements
Sudan – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 24 June 2020]
Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 1 May 2019]
Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 10 May 2019]

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies [to 23 Jan 2021]

Chad – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 30 June 2018]
Djibouti – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 25 novembre 2020]
Kenya – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 11 December 2020]
Mali – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 3 May 2017]
Namibia – viral hepatitis – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 20 July 2018]
Tanzania – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 21 October 2020]

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies
The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 
Syrian Arab Republic – No new digest announcements identified
Yemen – No new digest announcements identified

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies
When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.
COVID-19
:: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiological Update (17 January 2021)

East Africa Locust Infestation
:: Desert Locust situation update – 22 January 2021

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The Sentinel

Human Rights Action :: Humanitarian Response :: Health :: Education :: Heritage Stewardship ::
Sustainable Development
__________________________________________________
Week ending 16 January 2021 :: Number 350

This weekly digest is intended to aggregate and distill key content from a broad spectrum of practice domains and organization types including key agencies/IGOs, NGOs, governments, academic and research institutions, consortia and collaborations, foundations, and commercial organizations. We also monitor a spectrum of peer-reviewed journals and general media channels. The Sentinel’s geographic scope is global/regional but selected country-level content is included. We recognize that this spectrum/scope yields an indicative and not an exhaustive product. Comments and suggestions should be directed to:

David R. Curry
Editor
GE2P2 Global Foundation – Governance, Evidence, Ethics, Policy, Practice
david.r.curry@ge2p2center.net

PDF– The Sentinel_ period ending 16 Jan 2021

Contents
:: Week in Review  [See selected posts just below]
:: Key Agency/IGO/Governments Watch – Selected Updates from 30+ entities   [see PDF]
:: INGO/Consortia/Joint Initiatives Watch – Media Releases, Major Initiatives, Research:: Foundation/Major Donor Watch -Selected Updates
:: Journal Watch – Key articles

Migration – COVID Impacts

Global Migration Growth Slowed by 27 Per Cent in 2020, Following Decades of Robust Increase, Annual Report Finds
15 January 2021 DEV/3436
[Editor’s text bolding]
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted all forms of human mobility through the closing of national borders and halting of travel worldwide, according to a newly released United Nations report.

Preliminary estimates from the International Migration 2020 Highlights, published by the Population Division of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs, suggest that the pandemic may have slowed the rise in the number of international migrants by around 2 million people by mid-2020 — 27 per cent less than the growth expected since mid-2019. Growth in the number of international migrants has been robust over the last two decades, reaching 281 million people living outside their country of origin in 2020. That number is up from 173 million in 2000, and 221 million in 2010.

The report finds that international migrants currently make up about 3.6 per cent of the world’s population. International Migration Highlights provides the latest estimates of the number of international migrants by country of destination, origin, age and sex for all countries and areas of the world.

“The report affirms that migration is a part of today’s globalized world and shows how the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted the livelihoods of millions of migrants and their families and undermined progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Liu Zhenmin, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs.

International Migration Highlights’ 2020 edition finds that two thirds of all international migrants live in just 20 countries. The United States remained the largest destination, hosting 51 million international migrants in 2020, equal to 18 per cent of the world’s total. Germany hosted the second-largest number of migrants worldwide, at around 16 million, followed by Saudi Arabia (13 million), Russian Federation (12 million) and the United Kingdom (9 million).

Among the major regions of the world, the report finds that the largest number of international migrants in 2020 resided in Europe, with a total of 87 million. North America hosted the second largest number of migrants, with almost 59 million. North Africa and Western Asia followed, with a total of nearly 50 million. India topped the list of countries with the largest diasporas in 2020, with 18 million persons from India living outside of their country of birth. Other countries with a large transnational community included Mexico and the Russian Federation (11 million each), China (10 million) and Syria (8 million).

Diasporas contribute to the development of their countries of origin through the promotion of foreign investment, trade, access to technology and financial inclusion. However, according to projections by the World Bank, the COVID-19 pandemic may reduce the volume of remittances sent to low- and middle-income countries from $548 billion in 2019 to $470 billion in 2021, a decline of $78 billion or 14 per cent. The loss has affected the livelihoods of millions of migrants and their families, stalling progress in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. National strategies and international cooperation will be needed to mitigate the effects of this loss.

Among the report’s other findings is the fact that nearly half of all international migrants in 2020 resided in the region from which they originated. Europe accounted for the largest share of intra-regional migration, with 70 per cent of migrants born in Europe residing in another European country. The share of intra-regional migration among migrants originating in sub-Saharan Africa was 63 per cent. At the other end of the spectrum, Central and South Asia had the largest share of its diaspora residing outside the region, followed by Latin America and the Caribbean and North America…

Slavery – Records/Heritage Stewardship

Barbados receives international assistance to protect its cultural property: the digitization and conservation of slavery records
12/01/2021
At the 15th session of the Committee for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict, held at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 10-11 December 2020, the decision to provide Barbados with international assistance from the Fund for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict was adopted by its Secretariat. The amount of USD 46,000 goes to the 10-month project Strengthening and Protecting Barbados’ Cultural Property: The Digitization and Conservation of Slavery Records. Another international assistance of USD 44,400 aims to support the design of a Risk Management Plan for the National Anthropology Museum of Mexico.

Armed conflicts destroy lives and communities, and very often cultural heritage such as monuments, libraries and museum collections. Such atrocities deprive communities of crucial elements of their identity, history and economy that are necessary for the post-conflict reconstruction process. In this regard, the protection of cultural property in peacetime should be a priority to mitigate its destruction in times of conflict.

In addition to the safeguards set out in the 1954 Hague Convention for the Protection of Cultural Property in the Event of Armed Conflict (“1954 Hague Convention”), the 1999 Second Protocol introduced an enhanced protection mechanism. This allows a State Party to explicitly designate cultural property of great importance to humanity for enhanced legal protection and ensures that it will not be used for military purposes in the event of an armed conflict.

…Threatened by partial or complete deterioration from natural and anthropological sources, historical documents from the time of transatlantic slavery and the post-independence period of Barbados require special protective measures. For this reason, the project “Strengthening and Protecting Barbados’ Cultural Property: The Digitization and Conservation of Slavery”, whose funding was approved, aims to digitize historical documents to protect and strengthen Barbados’ cultural heritage and to develop a contingency plan to safeguard these documents. These documents date from the transatlantic slavery and post-independence periods, specifically inventories of property and personal effects (1764 – 1888), manumissions and sales (1821 – 1834), registers of powers of attorney and miscellaneous documents (1661 – 1948) and original wills (approximately 12,000).

The project, which will be implemented over a 10-month period, includes training on the digitization process for staff of the Department of Archives and the Barbados Military and Police Force, as well as a public awareness campaign on the results of the digitization and to promote the digitized material. The documents will be made available for online access through the Barbados Archives Department website.

Featured Initiatives – Rockefeller Foundation

Lacuna Fund Announces its First Round of Funding that will Unlock the Power of AI to Accelerate Pioneering Agricultural Solutions in African Countries
Agricultural AI projects across Africa receive funding to produce labeled training datasets for machine learning that will help alleviate food security challenges, spur economic opportunities, and give researchers, farmers, communities, and policymakers access to superior agricultural data.

NEW YORK, NY | January 13, 2021 – Lacuna Fund announces its first cohort of supported projects in the agricultural AI for social good domain. Funding recipients will produce labeled datasets in Eastern, Western, and Southern Africa. Projects will address a range of agricultural needs, including livestock and fisheries management, as well as crop identification, yield estimation, and disease detection in crops that shore up food security efforts in the region—namely cassava, maize, beans, bananas, pearl millet, and cocoa. Learn more about each individual project here.

With over 100 exceptional applications from, or in partnership with, organizations across Africa, it’s clear that the demand for high-quality, reliable, and representative labeled training data is high, and the expertise, capacity, and groundwork needed to produce it is growing by the day. All datasets produced will be locally developed and owned, but they will be openly accessible to the international data community…

Lacuna Fund began as a funder collaborative between The Rockefeller Foundation, Google.org, and Canada’s International Development Research Centre. With secretariat support from Meridian Institute, it has since evolved into a multi-stakeholder engagement composed of technical experts, thought leaders, local beneficiaries, and end users. Collectively, we are committed to creating and mobilizing labeled datasets that both solve urgent local problems and lead to a step change in machine learning’s potential worldwide.

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New Loan Guarantee Facility Unlocks Over $30M to Shore Up Private Sector Health Care in five African Countries during Covid-19
New Initiative Will Help Keep Doors Open for Estimated 1600 Health Facilities Offering Malaria Treatment and other Essential Health Services

New York and Washington, D.C. | January 11, 2021 – A new emergency loan guarantee facility makes more than USD$30 million available to private, small- and medium enterprise (SME) health providers in five high malaria burden African countries. The loans will support healthcare providers in Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, Tanzania, and Uganda to continue offering essential health services, including malaria treatments, to more than five million Africans. The facility was created by the Health Finance Coalition, a group of leading philanthropies, investors, donors and technical partners focused on mobilizing significant private investment to achieve transformative healthcare impact in Africa.

Private sector healthcare providers deliver nearly 50 percent of all healthcare in sub-Saharan Africa, including life-saving interventions such as early malaria diagnosis and treatment, ante-natal care and routine vaccinations. If left unaddressed, these vital health needs could overwhelm already overburdened health systems and add to the loss of life during the pandemic. Projections in 2020, for example, estimated that moderate disruptions in treatment seeking could lead to as many as 100,000 additional malaria deaths in sub-Saharan Africa.

As countries have shut down sectors of their economies and asked citizens to remain at home to slow the spread of Covid-19, all health providers have seen a decrease in demand for services. For private healthcare providers, this also means decreased revenues, putting them at risk of closing during a time when access to care is already a challenge.

The Open Doors African Private Healthcare Initiative is one of the first initiatives to address the economic crunch that the private health sector in Africa is facing due to Covid-19. A catalytic $700,000 investment by the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative (PMI) enables a $17.7 million loan guarantee from the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC) and $1.5 million in philanthropic funding from The Rockefeller Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, and the MCJ Amelior Foundation. Together, this effort unlocks more than $30 million in loans to SME health providers. Additional support comes from the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Center for Innovation and Impact (CII).

Of the five million patients that the loan facility could impact, almost 3 million are low-income patients, and approximately 2.4 million are women and 1.4 million are children, who are disproportionately at risk of malaria and other infectious diseases. The loan facility will be managed by Malaria No More and loans will be administered through the Medical Credit Fund (MCF), a non-profit health investment fund. Loans are expected to average $17,000 per provider to help stabilize operations, buy essential medical equipment including personal protective equipment, and finance small-scale construction to protect patients from COVID-19 infection. MCF’s partner organization SafeCare, in collaboration with PMI, will provide training materials to facilities on how to continue providing routine services safely during the pandemic…

CSR – Human Rights

Determining a Company’s Connection to Human Rights Harm
BSR http://www.bsr.org – Published on January 13, 2021
JONATHAN DRIMMER, Senior Advisor, BSR; PETER NESTOR, Head of Human Rights, Novartis
Download White Paper [13 pages] Download Worksheet
[Editor’s text bolding]
How far must a company go to address adverse human rights impacts with which they are involved?
The actions that a company must take to prevent, mitigate, and remedy adverse human rights impacts—what the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) call “appropriate actions”—depend on the company’s connection to that impact. The UNGPs provide a framework for assessing this, often called the cause/contribute/directly linked framework.

According to the UNGPs, the appropriate actions that companies must take to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses will vary according to “[w]hether the business enterprise causes or contributes to an adverse impact, or whether it is involved solely because the impact is directly linked to its operations, products or services by a business relationship.” The determination of appropriate actions also varies according to “the extent of [the company’s] leverage in addressing the adverse impact,” as indicated by Principle 19.

Assessing attribution—that is, whether the business has caused, contributed, or is directly linked to an adverse impact through their business relationships—is the first step toward determining appropriate actions to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses and provide remedy where relevant. In fact, the forward-looking nature of human rights assessments, followed by appropriate actions to prevent and mitigate human rights abuses, is one of the most powerful tools companies have available to ensure respect for human rights.

Practically speaking, how can companies determine whether they have caused, contributed, or are directly linked to an adverse impact through their business relationships? A new white paper from BSR Senior Advisor Jonathan Drimmer and Novartis Head of Human Rights and former BSR Human Rights Director Peter Nestor explores seven questions to help companies determine their connection to negative impacts and how to reframe these questions to identify appropriate actions to prevent and mitigate potential adverse human rights impacts that may occur in the future, including:

1. Did the company’s actions on their own cause human rights harm?
2. Did the company facilitate, enable, or incentivize other parties to cause harm?
3. Could the company have known about or foreseen the potential harm?
4. How specific was the connection between the company’s operations and the harm?
5. Did the company take steps that likely could have prevented the harm from occurring?
6. Did the company directly benefit from the negative impact?
7. Do stakeholders and rightsholders believe that the company caused, contributed to, or was directly linked to the harm, or should otherwise provide or contribute to remedy?

An accompanying worksheet is intended to guide practitioners and stakeholders through the analytical process. We hope the white paper and tool are helpful, and welcome any feedback.

Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI)

Broad Coalition of Health and Technology Industry Leaders Announce Vaccination Credential Initiative to Accelerate Digital Access to COVID-19 Vaccination Records
:: The Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI) is working to enable individuals vaccinated for COVID-19 to access their vaccination records in a secure, verifiable and privacy-preserving way.

:: Coalition partners include CARIN Alliance, Cerner, Change Healthcare, The Commons Project Foundation, Epic, Evernorth, Mayo Clinic, Microsoft, MITRE, Oracle, Safe Health, Salesforce.

:: The coalition is developing a standard model for organizations administering COVID-19 vaccines to make credentials available in an accessible, interoperable, digital format.

:: Trustworthy, traceable, verifiable, and universally recognized digital record of vaccination status is urgently needed worldwide to safely enable people to return to work, school, events, and travel. 

January 14, 2021 (NEW YORK): A broad coalition of health and technology leaders today announced the creation of the Vaccination Credential Initiative (VCI), committed to empowering individuals with digital access to their vaccination records based on open, interoperable standards.

The current vaccination record system does not readily support convenient access, control and sharing of verifiable vaccination records. VCI coalition members are working to enable digital access to vaccination records using the open, interoperable SMART Health Cards specification, based on W3C Verifiable Credential and HL7 FHIR standards.

VCI’s vision is to empower individuals to obtain an encrypted digital copy of their immunization credentials to store in a digital wallet of their choice. Those without smartphones could receive paper printed with QR codes containing W3C verifiable credentials.

“The goal of the Vaccination Credential Initiative is to empower individuals with digital access to their vaccination records so they can use tools like CommonPass to safely return to travel, work, school, and life, while protecting their data privacy,” said Paul Meyer, CEO of The Commons Project Foundation. “Open standards and interoperability are at the heart of VCI’s efforts and we look forward to supporting the World Health Organization and other global stakeholders in implementing and scaling open global standards for health data interoperability.”

“As we explore the many use cases for the vaccination credential, we are working to ensure that underserved populations have access to this verification,” said Dr. Brian Anderson, chief digital health physician at MITRE. “Just as COVID-19 does not discriminate based on socio-economic status, we must ensure that convenient access to records crosses the digital divide. MITRE is an independent advisor and trusted source for managing third-party data and proud to be joining with The Commons Project and other coalition members to deliver an open-source credential.”…

“Salesforce is proud to join the Vaccination Credential Initiative to help organizations easily and safely customize all aspects of the vaccination management lifecycle and integrate closely with other coalition members’ offerings, which will help us all get back to public life,” said Bill Patterson, executive vice president and general manager, CRM Applications at Salesforce. “With a single platform to help deliver safe and continuous operations and deepen trust with customers and employees, this coalition will be crucial to support public health and wellbeing.”…

“We are kicking off the most significant vaccination effort in the history of the United States. Now more than ever, individuals need access to their own vaccination and health information in a portable format to begin to move about the country safely and comfortably,” said Ryan Howells, principal, Leavitt Partners and program manager of the CARIN Alliance. “The CARIN Alliance is supportive of MITRE’s effort to provide individuals with access to their vaccination information in a secure and trusted way and looks forward to advising the VCI initiative on ways to leverage the CARIN code of conduct and other best practices to facilitate consumer-directed exchange that we have developed consensus on over the last few years.”

Coronavirus [COVID-19] – WHO
Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates
Last update: 16 January 2021
Confirmed cases :: 92 506 811 [week ago: 87 589 206] [two weeks ago: 82 356 727
Confirmed deaths :: 2 001 773 [week ago: 1 906 606] [two weeks ago: 1 815 433]
Countries, areas or territories with cases :: 223

Weekly epidemiological update – 12 January 2021
Overview
Following two weeks of low reporting, likely due to the year-end and holiday period, the overall upward trend seen prior to this period is continuing, with just under 5 million new cases reported last week globally. This brings the cumulative numbers to over 88 million reported cases and over 1.9 million deaths globally since the start of the pandemic.
In this issue, we summarize the current epidemiological situation regarding SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.

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Statement on the sixth meeting of the International Health Regulations (2005) Emergency Committee regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic
15 January 2021 Statement
The sixth meeting of the Emergency Committee convened by the WHO Director-General under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) regarding the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) took place on Thursday, 14 January 2021 from 12:15 to 16:45 Geneva time (CEST)….

The Committee unanimously agreed that the COVID-19 pandemic still constitutes an extraordinary event, a public health risk to other States through international spread, and continues to require a coordinated international response. As such, the Committee concurred that the COVID-19 pandemic remains a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC) and offered advice to the Director-General….

The Director-General determined that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to constitute a PHEIC. He accepted the advice of the Committee to WHO and issued the Committee’s advice to States Parties as Temporary Recommendations under the IHR.

The Emergency Committee will be reconvened within three months, at the discretion of the Director-General. The Director-General thanked the Committee for its work…

Emergencies

POLIO

Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)

Polio this week as of 13 January 2021

:: “Our children are like flowers and these anti-polio drives help them grow up healthy and strong,” says Zubair, who along with his colleague Afzal is part of Pakistan’s 260,000-strong frontline vaccinator workforce. Read more…

:: At the beginning of this month, Aidan O’Leary took over the leadership of the polio department at the WHO from Michel Zaffran who enters his retirement at the end of February. In this exceptional interview, Polio News talks to both Aidan O’Leary and Michel Zaffran about the future of polio eradication.

Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives):

:: Pakistan: six WPV1 and one cVDPV2 positive environmental samples, one cVDPV2 case

:: Sudan: four cVDPV2 cases

:: Yemen: nine cVDPV1 cases

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Editor’s Note:

Continuing with this edition, we include information about the last apparent update evident on the WHO emergency country webpages, recognizing almost universal and significant interims between such updates regardless of the level of the emergency listed.

WHO Grade 3 Emergencies  [to 16 Jan 2021]

Democratic Republic of the Congo

:: 12 January 2021   UNICEF, WHO, IFRC and MSF announce the establishment of a global Ebola vaccine stockpile

Mozambique floods  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 3 November 2020]

Nigeria – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 29 Jun 2020]

Somalia – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 17 July 2020]

South Sudan   – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 4 February 2020]

Syrian Arab Republic  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 24 October 2020]

Yemen – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 30 June 2020]

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WHO Grade 2 Emergencies  [to 16 Jan 2021]

Afghanistan – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 5 July 2020]

Angola – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 03 December 2020]

Burkina Faso – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 17 décembre 2020]

Burundi  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 04 July 2019]

Cameroon  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 22 August 2019]

Central African Republic – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 12 June 2018]

Ethiopia – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 22 August 2019]

Iran floods 2019  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 12 March 2020]

Iraq – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 16 December 2020]

Libya – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 7 October 2019]

Malawi Floods – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 09 October 2019]

Measles in Europe – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 16-12-2020]

MERS-CoV  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 8 July 2019]

Mozambique  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 03 November 2020]

Myanmar  – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: :: 3 January 2021

Niger – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 29 December 2020]

occupied Palestinian territory  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 4 September 2019]

HIV in Pakistan  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 27 August 2019]

Sao Tome and Principe Necrotizing Cellulitis (2017)  – No new digest announcements

Sudan  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 24 June 2020]

Ukraine – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 1 May 2019]

Zimbabwe – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 10 May 2019]

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WHO Grade 1 Emergencies  [to 16 Jan 2021]

Chad  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 30 June 2018]

Djibouti – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 25 novembre 2020]

Kenya – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 11 December 2020]

Mali  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 3 May 2017]

Namibia – viral hepatitis  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 20 July 2018]

Tanzania  – No new digest announcements identified  [Last apparent update: 21 October 2020]                                  

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UN OCHA – L3 Emergencies

The UN and its humanitarian partners are currently responding to three ‘L3’ emergencies. This is the global humanitarian system’s classification for the response to the most severe, large-scale humanitarian crises. 

Syrian Arab Republic 

:: Syrian Arab Republic: COVID-19 Response Update No. 14 – 12 January 2021

Yemen

::  11 January 2021  Yemen Humanitarian Update Issue 12 (December 2020)

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UN OCHA – Corporate Emergencies

When the USG/ERC declares a Corporate Emergency Response, all OCHA offices, branches and sections provide their full support to response activities both at HQ and in the field.

COVID-19  

:: Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19): Weekly Epidemiol  ogical Update (12 January 2021)

East Africa Locust Infestation 

:: Desert Locust situation update – 11 January 2021