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, Practicedavid.r.curry@ge2p2center.net
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
IDMC’s Global Report on Internal Displacement is the official repository of data and analysis on internal displacement. This year’s GRID discusses the relationship between climate change, disasters and displacement, and presents good practices from across the globe in advancing policy, displacement risk reduction and effective response.
Key Messages [Editor’s text bolding]
1 The number of people worldwide living in internal displacement has reached a record 55 million as
of 31 December 2020. More than 85 per cent have fled conflict and violence. Around seven million have been uprooted by disasters but given the incomplete data this is likely to be a significant underestimate.
2 Around 40.5 million new displacements were recorded in 2020, the highest figure in ten years. Disasters triggered over three times more displacements than conflict and violence. These figures were recorded despite the Covid-19 pandemic, when movement restrictions obstructed data collection and fear of infection discouraged people from seeking emergency shelter.
3 Measures to curb the spread of Covid-19 significantly impeded humanitarian efforts globally. The pandemic also heightened internally displaced people’s (IDPs) needs and vulnerabilities, while delaying the search for durable solutions.
4 The UN secretary general called for a global ceasefire to unite against the virus, but conflict continued unabated, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East and North Africa. Persistent conflict continued to force people to flee in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Syria and Afghanistan, while escalating violence and the expansion of extremist groups in Ethiopia, Mozambique and Burkina Faso fuelled some of the world’s fastest growing displacement crises.
5 Weather-related events were responsible for 98 per cent of all disaster displacement recorded in 2020. Intense cyclones, monsoon rains and floods hit highly exposed and densely populated areas in South Asia and East Asia and the Pacific, including China, the Philippines and Bangladesh. The Atlantic hurricane season was the most active on record, and extended rainy seasons across the Middle East and sub-Saharan Africa uprooted millions more.
6 The convergence of conflict and disasters led to many people being displaced for a second or even third time, increasing and prolonging their vulnerability. Many of those who fled flooding in Yemen had already been uprooted at least once by conflict. Drought in Somalia drove people to flee from rural to urban areas where they are now at greater risk of eviction and attacks by armed groups.
7 Internal displacement constitutes a significant economic burden for individuals, communities and economies. The global cost of one year of displacement was nearly $20.5 billion in 2020, a figure that covers support for IDPs’ housing, education, health and security needs, and accounts for their loss of income.
8 Persistent misconceptions surround disaster displacement, with serious implications for people, policy and responses. They include that disasters are natural, when human factors have a major role in how they play out; that disaster displacement is short-term, when in reality it often becomes protracted; that climate change will drive mass migration across borders when actually much displacement is small-scale and localised; and that small events are of little concern, when in fact they undermine people’s lives and threaten local development gains.
9 Rising temperatures are increasing the frequency and intensity of weather-related hazards, but climate change is not the only factor that drives displacement risk. A range of social and economic drivers must be addressed in the face of ever more powerful storms and devastating floods.
10 There have been significant advances in the development of national and regional policies on disaster displacement and climate-related migration, and global attention on the issue is growing. A number of countries now recognise the issue. Implementation, and assessing progress in doing so, are the next priorities.
11 When the impacts of climate change, slow-onset environmental change or unsustainable land use make an area uninhabitable, returning after a disaster is not an option. Two alternatives for those displaced are local integration or planned relocation. These solutions require strong local governance and decentralised interventions that include the perspectives of those at risk and support community-led livelihood initiatives.
12 There is an increasing need to connect humanitarian, peacebuilding and sustainable development efforts to prevent and respond to displacement in a changing climate. Disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation and mitigation are key, but more flexible and predictable financing is required.
13 Filling the data gaps is essential if we are to understand how displacement impedes progress on the sustainable development agenda. To paint a clear picture, however, we cannot act at the global level
alone. Disasters and climate impacts are essentially local phenomena, so local authorities and national governments have a key role to play.
Part 1 – Internal displacement in 2020 presents updated data and analysis of internal displacement at the global level. Data and contextual updates are included in the regional overviews and country spotlights.
Part 2 – Internal displacement in a changing climate discusses the importance of sound evidence and promising approaches to addressing disaster displacement and reducing the negative impacts of climate change on IDPs.
The Climate and Environment Charter for Humanitarian Organizations is now opened for signature by all humanitarian organizations, following its adoption by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. The Charter intends to galvanize and steer collective action in response to the dramatic impacts of the climate and environmental crises, in particular for those who will feel their impacts the most.
The Charter is the result of a broad consultative process across the humanitarian sector led by the ICRC and IFRC, with the support of an advisory committee bringing together humanitarian, climate and environment experts. Hundreds of humanitarian professionals and organizations, including UN agencies, international NGOs, RCRC National Societies, and local and national organizations have been consulted on the content of the document and provided feedback on the Charter.
The Charter includes seven high-level commitments to guide the sector’s response to the climate and environmental crises.
First among them is a commitment to step up the humanitarian response to growing needs and help people adapt to the growing impacts of these crises.
Second, the Charter makes a commitment to maximize the environmental sustainability of humanitarian programmes and operations and to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, while maintaining the ability to provide timely and principled assistance.
These commitments will only be possible by embracing local leadership, increasing the capacity to understand climate and environmental risks, and working together across and beyond the sector to mobilise even more ambitious climate action.
The ICRC has also adopted a set of three organizational targets and a roadmap for their implementation:
:: Factoring climate and environmental risks in all programs by 2025.
:: Reducing ICRC’s greenhouse gas emissions by at least 50% by 2030, compared to 2018 levels, including all direct and indirect emissions.
:: Strengthening awareness, understanding and implementation of IHL protecting the environment among States and parties to conflict as a result of the ICRC’s bilateral and multilateral engagement, publications, and legal tools by 2025.
The climate and environmental crises are humanitarian crises. They affect all of us — but they do not affect all of us equally. Those who have contributed least to the problem are often at the highest risk. The Charter is our commitment to do our part to respond to these crises, meet rising needs, and work together to prevent further death and suffering.
Following are UN Secretary-General António Guterres’ remarks to the Global Health Summit, held online today:
From the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, I warned that no one is safe until everyone is safe. I was deeply concerned by the possibility of a dangerous two-speed response. Sadly, that concern was justified.
Grossly unequal access to vaccines, tests, medicines and supplies, including oxygen, have left poorer countries at the mercy of the virus. Recent surges of COVID-19 in India, South America and other regions have left people literally gasping for breath before our eyes. The pandemic is still very much with us, thriving and mutating. As winter approaches in the global South, I fear the worst is yet to come.
Vaccinating quickly and thoroughly around the world, together with continued public health measures, are the only way to end the pandemic and prevent more dangerous variants from gaining a foothold. But, so far, more than 82 per cent of the world’s vaccine doses have gone to affluent countries. Just 0.3 per cent have gone to low-income countries.
The Group of 20 Rome Declaration is a significant step to provide equal access to vaccines. But, we need a follow-up mechanism, backed by the political will to translate the declaration into a global vaccination plan. We have many initiatives, but we must make sure that they add instead of subtract. We must make sure that there is a coordination at those different initiatives, some of them just announced today.
I repeat my call for the G20 to set up a task force that brings together all countries with vaccine production capacities, the World Health Organization, the ACT-Accelerator partners and international financial institutions, able to deal with the pharmaceutical companies and other key stakeholders. The task force should address equitable global distribution by using the COVAX Facility.
It should aim to at least double manufacturing capacity by exploring all options, from voluntary licenses and technology transfers to patent pooling and flexibility on intellectual property rights. The G20 task force should be co-convened at the highest levels by the major powers who hold most of the global supply and production capacity, together with the multilateral system.
I am ready to mobilize the entire United Nations System to support this effort. The task force must also leverage the ACT-Accelerator and its COVAX Facility.
Let’s be clear, we are at war with the virus. And if you are at war with the virus, we need to deal with our weapons with rules of a war economy, and we are not yet there. And this is true for vaccines, and it is true for other components in the fight against the virus. By now, COVAX should have delivered 170 million doses around the world. But, due to vaccine nationalism, limited production capacity and lack of funding, that figure is just 65 million.
I call on G20 countries to lead by example and contribute their full share of funding. An investment of billions could end up saving trillions — and saving lives.
A global coordinated effort on vaccines can end this pandemic. But, it will not help prevent the next. I fully support last week’s bold recommendations from the Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response. The world needs political commitment at the highest level to take internationally coordinated, cross-cutting measures and transform global pandemic preparedness.
The bedrock of the recovery from COVID-19, and of preventing and addressing future health crises, is universal health coverage and robust primary health care systems. These are essential to achieve SDG3 and the entire 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
It is time for decisive action. I urge G20 countries, in collaboration with the United Nations, to assume a strong leadership role in ending this devastating global pandemic. Together, we can and we must build a healthier, safer, fairer and more sustainable world. Thank you.
Geneva/Paris/Rome/Nairobi, 20 May 2021 – International organizations have come together to launch a new One Health High-Level Expert Panel to improve understanding of how diseases with the potential to trigger pandemics, emerge and spread.
The panel will advise four international organizations – the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO); the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE); the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP); and the World Health Organization (WHO) – on the development of a long-term global plan of action to avert outbreaks of diseases like H5N1 avian influenza; MERS; Ebola; Zika, and, possibly, COVID-19. Three quarters of all emerging infectious diseases originate in animals.
It will operate under the One Health Approach, which recognizes the links between the health of people, animals, and the environment and highlights the need for specialists in multiple sectors to address any health threats and prevent disruption to agri-food systems.
Key first steps will include systematic analyses of scientific knowledge about the factors that lead to transmission of a disease from animal to human and vice versa; development of risk assessment and surveillance frameworks; identification of capacity gaps as well as agreement on good practices to prevent and prepare for zoonotic outbreaks.
The panel will consider the impact of human activity on the environment and wildlife habitats. Critical areas will include food production and distribution; urbanization and infrastructure development; international travel and trade; activities that lead to biodiversity loss and climate change; and those that put increased pressure on the natural resource base – all of which can lead to the emergence of zoonotic diseases.
The panel will guide development of a dynamic new research agenda and draw up evidence-based recommendations for global, regional, national and local action.
Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director-General said: “Human health does not exist in a vacuum, and nor can our efforts to protect and promote it. The close links between human, animal and environmental health demand close collaboration, communication and coordination between the relevant sectors. The High-Level Expert Panel is a much-needed initiative to transform One Health from a concept to concrete policies that safeguard the health of the world’s people.”…
Global leaders adopt agenda to overcome COVID-19 crisis and avoid future pandemics Press release 21 May 2021 Leaders of the G20 committed today to a series of actions to accelerate the end of the COVID-19 crisis everywhere and better prepare for future pandemics, at a summit co-hosted by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi, as G20 chair.
President Ursula von der Leyen said: “This very first G20 summit on health marks the beginning of a new chapter in global health policy. World leaders strongly committed to multilateralism and global cooperation in health. This means, no export bans, keeping global supply chains open and working to extend production capacity everywhere. If we live up to these principles, the world will be better prepared for pandemics.”
The G20 underlined the importance of increased and diversified manufacturing and recognised the role of intellectual property in ensuring equity, both through voluntary licensing and knowledge transfer, as well as in the context of the flexibilities provided by the TRIPS agreement. In that respect, the EU intends to facilitate the implementation of those flexibilities, in particular the use of compulsory licenses including for exports to all countries that lack manufacturing capacity.*
The EU will come forward with a proposal in the WTO focusing on: :: clarifying and facilitating the use of compulsory licences in crisis times like this pandemic; :: supporting the expansion of production; :: trade facilitation and limiting export restrictions.
All G20 members also acknowledged the need to address the funding gap of the ACT-Accelerator, a global collaboration to accelerate development, production, and equitable access to COVID-19 tests, treatments, and vaccines, and launched by the WHO, the European Commission, France and the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. And agreed to extend its mandate to the end of 2022.
The leaders further agreed on the need for early warning information, surveillance and trigger systems, which will be interoperable. These will cover new viruses, but also variants. They will enable countries to detect much quicker and to act to nip in the bud outbreaks, before they become pandemics.
G20 clearly stressed the need to ensure equitable access to vaccines and to support low and middle-income countries…
Weekly operational update on COVID-19 – 17 May 2021 In this edition of the COVID-19 Weekly Operational Update, highlights of country-level actions and WHO support to countries include: :: Surge capacity and procurement support in India :: Strengthening ambulance services as a part of the emergency response in Syria :: Contact tracing training in Kosovo :: Fiji boost its COVID-19 testing capabilities :: Supporting countries in the Americas to cope with oxygen supply and health worker shortages :: Monitoring implementation of Intra-Action Review recommendations in Indonesia :: Regular updates on WHO’s resource requirements and funds received to support countries in implementing the COVID-19 Strategic Preparedness and Response Plan 2021, WHO/PAHO procurement of critical supplies, and implementation of the Unity Studies
Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 – 18 May 2021 Overview Globally, in the past week, the number of new cases and deaths continued to decrease, although overall counts for both remained high with just over 4.8 million new cases and nearly 86 000 new deaths reported in the past week. All regions reported a decline in new cases this week with the exception of the Western Pacific where the number of new cases were similar to the previous week. In this edition, a special focus update is provided on SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Interest (VOIs) and Variants of Concern (VOCs), including updates on the geographic distribution of VOCs B.1.1.7, B.1.351, P.1, and B.1.617.
POLIO Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of19 May 2021 :: Come and join the virtual launch of the Polio Eradication Strategy 2022-2026, at an online event on Thursday 10 June 2021 (at 2pm, Central European Summer Time). More information, including registration details, are available here, where you will find the ‘Save the Date’.
Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives): :: Afghanistan: five cVDPV2 cases :: Pakistan: one cVDPV2 case :: China: one cVDPV3 positive environmental sample :: Liberia: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples :: Mali: one cVDPV2 case :: Nigeria: one cVDPV2 case and one cVDPV2 positive environmental sample
Statement following the Twenty-Eighth IHR Emergency Committee for Polio 21 May 2021 Statement The twenty-eighth meeting of the Emergency Committee under the International Health Regulations (2005) (IHR) on the international spread of poliovirus was convened by the WHO Director-General on 4 May 2021 with Committee members and advisers attending via video conference, supported by the WHO Secretariat. The Emergency Committee reviewed the data on wild poliovirus (WPV1) and circulating vaccine-derived polioviruses (cVDPV). The following IHR States Parties provided an update at the video conference on the current situation in their respective countries: Afghanistan, Kenya, Pakistan, Senegal, South Sudan and Tajikistan…
Conclusion The Committee unanimously agreed that the risk of international spread of poliovirus remains a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC) and recommended the extension of Temporary Recommendations for a further three months. The Committee recognizes the concerns regarding the lengthy duration of the polio PHEIC, but concludes that the current situation is extraordinary, with clear ongoing substantial risk of international spread and utmost need for coordinated international response. The Committee considered the following factors in reaching this conclusion:
Continued risk of WPV1 international spread Based on the following factors, the risk of international spread of WPV1 appears to be currently very high: :: Despite the reported drop in the number of WPV-1 cases, there is geographically widespread transmission in Pakistan and Afghanistan as evidenced by positive environmental samples. :: Isolation of long chain viruses in both countries indicates the possibility of missed transmission in the hard-to-reach population groups. :: The ongoing inaccessibility in many provinces of Afghanistan has led to the increase in size of highly susceptible populations which continues to drive higher transmission; to date about three million children were missed during all the nation-wide rounds in 2020 and 2021 (the highest in southern Afghanistan), and the cohort of missed children continues to rapidly grow (https://polioeradication.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/Afghanistan_NEAP_2021.pdf). :: Inconsistent vaccination campaigns quality in critical areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including Karachi, Quetta Block and accessible areas of southern Afghanistan. :: Ongoing barriers to reach missed children in the core reservoirs of Pakistan and Afghanistan, including refusals to polio vaccination. :: The complicated context of WPV eradication activities in Afghanistan and Pakistan created by the need to simultaneously respond to cVDPV2 and COVID-19. :: The second wave of COVID-19 that appears to be currently underway in Pakistan, Afghanistan and many polio-affected countries, making the interventions more complex and difficult.
Rising risk of cVDPV2 international spread: Based on the following factors, the risk of international spread of cVDPV2 appears to be currently very high: :: Despite the reported decline in the number of cVDPV2 cases, the risk of international spread of cVDPV2 remains quite high as evidenced by recent importation in Senegal (never infected before) and Kenya (re-importation from Somalia). :: The most updated analyses performed by the GPLN on international spread (Oct – Dec 2020), indicates cVDPV2 exportation from one country to another on 17 occasions. :: The cVDPV2 transmission in Afghanistan has spread to areas that have been inaccessible for vaccination campaigns due to local bans for more than two years. This appears to be driving the intense transmission there, with continued high risk of national and international spread. :: The ever-widening gap in population intestinal mucosal immunity in young children since the withdrawal of OPV2 in 2016. :: The same factors regarding the COVID-19 pandemic as mentioned above…
…Based on the current situation regarding WPV1 and cVDPV, and the reports provided by affected countries, the Director-General accepted the Committee’s assessment on 21 May 2021 and determined that the situation relating to poliovirus continues to constitute a PHEIC, with respect to WPV1 and cVDPV…
:::::: ::::::
WHO/OCHA Emergencies
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 since last update regardless of the level of the emergency listed.
Democratic Republic of the Congo– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 3 May 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: 13 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]
Afghanistan– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 5 July 2020] Angola– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16 March 2021] Burundi– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 04 July 2019] Cameroon– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 12 March 2020] 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: 2 March 2020] Iraq– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 512 May 2021 Libya– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 7 October 2019] Malawi– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 22 April 2021 Measles in Europe– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 26-04-2021] 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: 29 March 2021] Niger – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16 avril 2021] 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]
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: 21 May 2021 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 2019]
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, Practicedavid.r.curry@ge2p2center.net
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
COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response May 2021 :: 86 pages The Independent Panel was established by the World Health Organization (WHO) Director-General in response to the World Health Assembly resolution 73.1. The mission of the Independent Panel is to provide an evidence-based path for the future, grounded in lessons of the present and the past to ensure countries and global institutions, including specifically WHO, effectively address health threats. Members: Rt Hon. Helen Clark Co-Chair H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Co-Chair Mauricio Cárdenas Aya Chebbi Mark Dybul Michel Kazatchkine Joanne Liu Precious Matsoso David Miliband Thoraya Obaid Preeti Sudan Ernesto Zedillo Zhong Nanshan
Main Report: COVID-19: Make it the Last Pandemic – PDF, 5.1 MB From the Introduction …Seized by the gravity of the crisis, in May 2020 the World Health Assembly requested the Director-general of WHO to initiate an impartial, independent, and comprehensive review of the international health response to COVID-19 and of experiences gained and lessons learned from that, and to make recommendations to improve capacities for the future. The Director-General asked H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and the Rt Hon. Helen Clark to convene an independent panel for this purpose and to report to the World Health Assembly in May 2021.
The Panel has taken a systematic, rigorous and comprehensive approach to its work. It has sought to listen to and learn from a wide range of interlocutors. Since mid-September 2020, the Panel has reviewed extensive literature, conducted original research, heard from experts in 15 round-table discussions and in interviews, received the testimony of people working on the front lines of the pandemic in town-hall-style meetings, and welcomed many submissions from its open invitation to contribute.
The Panel has examined the state of pandemic preparedness prior to COVID-19, the circumstances of the identification of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) and the disease it causes, coronavirus disease (COVID-19), and responses globally, regionally and nationally, particularly in the pandemic’s early months. It has also analysed the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic and the ongoing social and economic crisis that it has precipitated.
This report presents the Panel’s findings on what happened, the lessons to be learned from that, and our recommendations for strategic action now to end this pandemic and to ensure that any future infectious disease outbreak does not become a catastrophic pandemic…
[Excerpts; Editor’s selection/text bolding] [p.14] The Independent Panel makes the following urgent calls I. Apply non-pharmaceutical public health measures systematically and rigorously in every country at the scale the epidemiological situation requires. All countries to have an explicit evidence-based strategy agreed at the highest level of government to curb COVID-19 transmission.
II. High income countries with a vaccine pipeline for adequate coverage should, alongside their scale up, commit to provide to the 92 low and middle income countries of the Gavi COVAX Advance Market Commitment, at least one billion vaccine doses no later than 1 September 2021 and more than two billion doses by mid-2022, to be made available through COVAX and other coordinated mechanisms.
III. G7 countries to commit to providing 60% of the US$ 19 billion required for ACT-A in 2021 for vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and strengthening health systems with the remainder being mobilised from others in the G20 and other higher income countries. A formula based on ability to pay should be adopted for predictable, sustainable, and equitable financing of such global public goods on an ongoing basis.
IV. The World Trade Organization and WHO to convene major vaccine-producing countries and manufacturers to get agreement on voluntary licensing and technology transfer arrangements for COVID-19 vaccines (including through the Medicines Patent Pool). If actions do not occur within three months, a waiver of intellectual property rights under the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights should come into force immediately.
V. Production of and access to COVID-19 tests and therapeutics, including oxygen, should be scaled up urgently in low- and middle income countries with full funding of US$1.7 billion for needs in 2021 and the full utilization of the US$3.7 billion in the Global Fund’s COVID-19 Response Mechanism Phase 2 for procuring tests, strengthening laboratories and running surveillance and tests.
VI. WHO to develop immediately a roadmap for the short-term, and within three months scenarios for the medium- and long-term response to COVID-19, with clear goals, targets and milestones to guide and monitor the implementation of country and global efforts towards ending the COVID-19 pandemic.
[p.45] 5. The Independent Panel’s recommendations for transforming the international system for pandemic preparedness and response The Panel believes that system-level change is needed to overcome the manifest failure of the international system to prevent, contain, and mitigate the impact of a pandemic. Pandemic preparedness and response have to function at national, regional and global levels, across different sectors of social and economic life, and include government, business and community.
The current pandemic needs to be stopped as quickly as possible. Then measures in the recovery phase must be taken to ensure that such a pandemic never happens again, by building forward better. The lost ground in progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals needs to be made up by redressing the interlocking impacts of the pandemic on health, livelihoods, and inequality.
The Panel’s recommendations follow from the diagnosis we have made of what went wrong at each stage of the pandemic, in preparedness, surveillance and alert and early and sustained response and from our view of the leadership required to transform the system.
There is a need for: :: Stronger leadership and better coordination at national, regional and international level, including a more focused and independent WHO, a Pandemic Treaty, and a senior Global Health Threats Council. :: investment in preparedness now, and not when the next crisis hits, more accurate measurement of it, and accountability mechanisms to spur action; :: an improved system for surveillance and alert at a speed that can combat viruses like SARS-CoV-2, and authority given to WHO to publish information and to dispatch expert missions immediately; :: a pre-negotiated platform able to produce vaccines, diagnostics, therapeutics and supplies and secure their rapid and equitable delivery as essential global common goods; :: access to financial resources, both for investments in preparedness and to be able to inject funds immediately at the onset of a potential pandemic.
The Panel calls on Member States to request the United Nations Secretary-General to convene a special session of the United Nations General Assembly to reach agreement on the reforms needed to ensure that the world can prevent the next outbreak of a new pathogen becoming another pandemic…
[p.48] 2. Focus and strengthen the independence, authority and financing of the WHO The Panel recommends I. Establish WHO´s financial independence, based on fully unearmarked resources, increase Member States fees to 2/3 of the budget for the WHO base programme and have an organized replenishment process for the remainder of the budget.
II. Strengthen the authority and independence of the Director-General, including by having a single term of office of seven years with no option for re-election. The same rule should be adopted for Regional Directors.
III. Strengthen the governance capacity of the Executive Board, including by establishing a Standing Committee for Emergencies.
IV. Focus WHO’s mandate on normative, policy, and technical guidance, including supporting countries and regions to build capacity for pandemic preparedness and response and for resilient and equitable health systems.
V. Empower WHO to take a leading, convening, and coordinating role in operational aspects of an emergency response to a pandemic, without, in most circumstances, taking on responsibility for procurement and supplies, while also ensuring other key functions of WHO do not suffer including providing technical advice and support in operational settings.
VI. Resource and equip WHO Country Offices sufficiently to respond to technical requests from national governments to support pandemic preparedness and response, including support to build resilient equitable and accessible health systems, UHC and healthier populations.
VII. Prioritize the quality and performance of staff at each WHO level, and de-politicize recruitment (especially at senior levels) by adhering to criteria of merit and relevant competencies.
[p.52] 4. Establish a new international system for surveillance, validation and alert The Panel recommends I. WHO to establish a new global system for surveillance, based on full transparency by all parties, using state-of-the-art digital tools to connect information centres around the world and including animal and environmental health surveillance, with appropriate protections of people’s rights.
II. WHO to be given the explicit authority by the World Health Assembly to publish information about outbreaks with pandemic potential on an immediate basis, without requiring the prior approval of national governments.
III. WHO to be empowered by the World Health Assembly to investigate pathogens with pandemic potential in all countries with short-notice access to relevant sites, provision of samples and standing multientry visas for international epidemic experts to outbreak locations.
IV. Future declarations of a PHEIC by the WHO Director-General should be based on the precautionary principle where warranted, as in the case of respiratory infections. PHEIC declarations should be based on clear, objective, and published criteria. The Emergency Committee advising the WHO Director-General must be fully transparent in its membership and working methods. On the same day that a PHEIC is declared, WHO must provide countries with clear guidance on what action should to be taken and by whom to contain the health threat…
The ISO Action Plan for developing countries is the overall framework for technical assistance and training to support developing country members. Its objective is to empower members to contribute actively to the ISO system and fully realize the benefits of using ISO standards, particularly those addressing social, economic and environmental challenges. Achieving this objective will also make an important contribution to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and ISO’s vision of “making lives easier, safer and better” by 2030.
Strategic context
The global community is faced with an increasing set of social, economic and environmental challenges. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) provide an ambitious frame-work for global collective action to address these challenges and achieve a more sustainable future, by supporting inclusive economic growth, the wellbeing of people and the protection of the planet. They present an opportunity and an aspiration to build greener, more inclusive economies and stronger, more resilient societies.
ISO standards have an essential role to play in making these development goals a reality by enabling free and fair international trade, encouraging innovation and technology development, and fostering trust through the provision of world-class, consensus-based specifications.
Developing countries can benefit significantly from using ISO standards. At a government level, standards can be used to support public policy and good regulatory practice. At a private-sector level, businesses can use standards to ensure that their processes, products and services are fit for purpose, interchangeable and compatible. Consumers benefit greatly from goods and services developed in line with standards because they can be confident that these are of good quality, safe and environmentally sound. To realize these benefits, it is important that developing countries have the skills and resources to propose new work items and participate in all stages of ISO standards development. ISO recognizes that many of its developing country members need capacity building support to benefit fully from the use of ISO standards in contributing to their countries’ development objectives and advancing the SDGs.
ISO Strategy 2021-2030
Making lives easier, safer and better
ISO’s ten-year strategy sets out the organization’s vision, mission, goals and priorities to 2030, a time frame that aligns with the SDGs. The strategy aims to ensure that ISO is well positioned within a rapidly changing global context and that ISO standards fulfil their potential in delivering ISO’s vision of “ making lives easier, safer and better ”.
To realize this vision, and maximize the impact of standards and standardization, ISO has identified three clear goals: ISO standards used everywhere; meeting global needs; and all voices heard. These goals are underpinned by six strategic priorities and an associated set of performance indicators. Recognizing that ISO is only as strong as its members, and that strong national standards bodies (NSBs) are key to its success, one of these strategic priorities is “ to strengthen ISO members through capacity building ”. The ISO Strategy serves as the basis for the ISO Action Plan for developing countries: the overall framework of technical assistance and training support that ISO delivers to its developing country members.
Impact
Developing countries are empowered to actively contribute to the ISO system, and to benefit fully from the use of ISO standards addressing social, economic and environmental challenges. The ultimate long-term objective of this Action Plan is to empower ISO’s developing country members to contribute actively to the ISO system and fully realize the benefits of using ISO standards that address social, economic and environmental challenges. Meaningful participation of developing countries in international standardization is fundamental to ensuring the global relevance of ISO standards and establishing the right conditions for their effective implementation. Achieving this objective will make an important contribution towards the delivery of the SDGs and ISO’s vision of “ making lives easier, safer and better ” by 2030.
Outcomes
To deliver on the desired long-term impact, two main areas of improvement (outcomes) have been identified for ISO’s developing country members.
Outcome 1: Increased use of ISO standards and their national adoptions in developing countries to support the UN SDGs, particularly those relating to trade and climate change.
The Action Plan will build in-country awareness and expertise of ISO standards to encourage their use and adoption among all stakeholders and support the achievement of the UNSDGs. While the Action Plan will seek to promote the use and adoption of ISO standards relating to all 17 SDGs (see Box on page 1), the priority focus is on international trade and climate change.
International trade is a key catalyst for economic development and poverty reduction, and one of the most important drivers of prosperity, particularly in developing countries. The application of ISO standards reduces technical barriers to trade and increases developing countries’ trade opportunities. The Plan will enable developing countries to use ISO standards effectively to benefit from trade and contribute to their economic development.
Given the profound threat of climate change, the Plan has also prioritized providing support to developing countries so that they can develop, adopt and apply ISO standards relating to all aspects of climate change mitigation and adaptation.
Outcome 2: Increased effective participation of ISO’s developing country members at governance and technical levels to enhance the global relevance of ISO standards.
ISO standards will only be globally relevant and effectively adopted and used if they suffi-ciently represent the views and interests of as many countries as possible. To ensure that developing countries’ interests are fairly represented and provided for, the Action Plan will assist developing countries in participating more effectively at both the governance and technical levels within the ISO system.
[See endorsing organizations at end; Editor’s text-bolding for emphasis]
Over the past year, anniversaries of the conflicts in Syria, Libya, Yemen, and new outbreaks of violence elsewhere, have served as grim reminders of the international community’s lack of meaningful progress to uphold their commitments to protect civilians in armed conflict. The COVID-19 pandemic has interacted with new, ongoing, and protracted conflicts, exacerbating existing inequalities and protection concerns, and contributing to dramatically escalating humanitarian needs including displacement, famine and food insecurity, and desperate medical shortfalls. Civilians living in conflict-zones continue to experience the devastating impacts of conflict-related environmental damage and an increased vulnerability to climate and environmental risks with wide-ranging effects on health and human suffering.
Meanwhile, States continue to use the pandemic and other pretexts to shrink civic space. Dialogue essential to the development of policies, strategies, and plans for protection of civilians too often fails to be adequately representative and inclusive of civil society, despite their voices being essential. This is especially true for vulnerable or marginalized communities and for human rights defenders.
Parties to conflict continue to be blind to the gendered, age-specific, and intersectional vulnerabilities of civilians. In particular, conflicts continue to undermine the rights of women, children, persons with disabilities and minorities, especially when it comes to participating in decisions that impact their lives and communities. Conflict often leads to the widespread use of gender-based violence, undermining of women’s freedom of movement and access to education, health and livelihoods. The deliberate targeting and collateral impact of conflicts on women and girls continues to result in specific gendered harms that must be redressed, requiring the humanitarian system to ensure that there is gender equity in the decision-making structures at all levels. Attacks on educational institutions and their military use result in death, destruction, and loss of education, creating long-term negative consequences for whole communities.
Moreover, the absence of genuine political will to realize accountability for war crimes and other serious violations has deepened a culture of impunity. As a result, parties to conflict continue to directly violate international humanitarian law (IHL) or enable violations by others and fail to take meaningful practical steps to minimize and respond to civilian harm in conflict. Parties, including some States who profess to support the protection of civilians agenda are also fueling protection crises around the world, including through the supply of weapons and other forms of military and security assistance. Rather than enhancing the protection of civilians, millions have been forced to flee bombing and fighting and face hunger, starvation and disease as their access to life-saving humanitarian assistance is denied or otherwise impeded.
At the same time, protecting civilians has too often been understood through the prism of compliance with international humanitarian law. This is an incomplete view: compliance with the law is the bare minimum, but current patterns of harm and long-term effects of hostilities highlight the need for policies and practices to effectively prevent, minimize, and respond to civilian harm. The full protection of civilians must become a strategic imperative across scenarios from direct involvement in hostilities to support provided to parties to conflict, and through the full spectrum of UN and other international and regional peace operations. This should entail prioritizing the health and wellbeing of people, supporting political and social structures that ensure justice and dignity, and protecting the environment, and be understood as a wider goal of conflict prevention and response.
Ambitious action to shift mindsets and invest in robust policies, strategies and practices is urgently required to adequately protect civilians caught in armed conflict:
:: Member States, the UN System, and the international community must recommit to a United Nations of ‘We the Peoples’, and engage conflict-affected communities and local, national, and international civil society in a direct, robust, inclusive, and sustained dialogue on the protection of civilians and measures to minimize civilian harm. Effective protection of civilians can only be conceived and implemented through safe and inclusive dialogue with conflict-affected communities and civil society at all levels. Additionally, the UN, States, and other stakeholders should support nonviolent and community-based protection mechanisms where possible such as political mediation, early warning/early response activities, and unarmed civilian
:: The UN Security Council, Member States, and the UN System must fulfill their commitment to the full protection of civilians, including by promoting and implementing the relevant and applicable legal and policy frameworks. Member States should partner with civil society to develop national policy frameworks that include mechanisms to systematically record casualties, track, analyze, prevent, mitigate, and respond to civilian harm from the actions of their own and those of security partners, including the indirect and reverberating effects of hostilities on critical civilian objects, critical infrastructure and essential services, including health and education, and that ensure principled and sustained dialogue with humanitarian organizations in conflict contexts.
:: The UN Security Council, Member States and all parties to conflict must operate in a manner that preserves and protects space for principled humanitarian action, including by ensuring compliance with international humanitarian and human rights law, as a critical aspect of strengthening the protection of civilians. As conflicts are increasingly defined as protection crises, disproportionately affecting women, girls, and boys, and are compounded by the gendered and age-specific impacts of COVID-19, States must take actions to reinforce the rights of women, children, persons with disabilities and other marginalized groups, and the localization of principled humanitarian response. States and all other parties to conflict must facilitate unhindered access to affected populations, respecting humanitarian principles of humanity, impartiality, neutrality, and independence. Sanctions and counterterrorism measures must include effective humanitarian exceptions and not limit principled humanitarian action. All actors must redouble efforts to protect humanitarian, education and health workers, and cease attacks on them, particularly in light of COVID-19’s effects and vaccine rollout.
:: The UN Secretary-General, the Security Council, and Member States must redouble efforts to ensure accountability for violations, including by publicly condemning actors who violate international humanitarian law, international human rights law and other applicable legal frameworks. The UN Security Council and Member States must strengthen the implementation of accountability mechanisms. The Secretary-General should reinforce transparent mechanisms, including at the field level, to track, analyze, and publicly report on violations caused by parties to armed conflicts, and make practical recommendations to enhance the protection of civilians and prevent further violations. Critical mechanisms established to help strengthen accountability, such as the list of perpetrators of grave violations of children’s rights included in the Secretary-General’s Annual Report on Children and Armed Conflict, must be credible and accurate, free from politicization.
:: Member States should engage constructively in the process to develop a political declaration that would strengthen the protection of civilians from the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects. Such a declaration should commit States to avoid the use of explosive weapons with wide area effects in populated areas. It should include inclusive humanitarian provisions to assist victims and affected communities including from damage and destruction to infrastructure – including schools and hospitals – and the resulting reverberating effects. This should recognize the particular vulnerability of and specific impacts of explosive weapons on children, the gendered impacts, and particular impacts on persons with disabilities.
:: The UN Secretary-General must work together with the UN Security Council to ensure protection is at the heart of UN peace operations. Configurations and operations of UN peace operations must prioritize and be driven by analysis of threats against civilians, including threats of sexual and gender-based violence and threats of grave violations against children. The Secretary-General and Member States should ensure a coherent and adequately resourced approach to the protection of civilians, including that distinct capacities for protection, human rights, gender equality and the empowerment of women and girls, and child protection are defined and provided across the spectrum of peace operations and in UN Country Teams, and sustained throughout transitions. Peacekeeping operations should continue to strengthen implementation of the UN Department of Peace Operations PoC Policy, mitigate potential harm from their presence or operations, and incorporate local perspectives into protection strategies.
As civil society, we believe in the comprehensive protection of civilians: the protection of civilians from conflict, the protection of civilians during conflict, and the protection of civilians in the devastating and often long aftermath of conflict. Over the past year, the pandemic has further forced the world to confront the protection implications of a global health crisis. Especially in the context of conflict, States and the international community must meaningfully advance the protection of civilians, starting with a recommitment to the critical dictum of “do no harm.”
*See also: Joint Statement: NGOs Call for Action to Strengthen the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict (May 2020): http://bit.ly/NGO-PoCstatement-2020
With a view to supporting current efforts to establish internationally agreed limits on autonomous weapon systems to address the concern they raise, ICRC recommends that States adopt new legally binding rules.
12 May 2021
The ICRC’s concerns about autonomous weapon systems
Autonomous weapon systems select and apply force to targets without human intervention. After initial activation or launch by a person, an autonomous weapon system self-initiates or triggers a strike in response to information from the environment received through sensors and on the basis of a generalized “target profile”. This means that the user does not choose, or even know, the specific target(s) and the precise timing and/or location of the resulting application(s) of force.
The use of autonomous weapon systems entails risks due to the difficulties in anticipating and limiting their effects. This loss of human control and judgement in the use of force and weapons raises serious concerns from humanitarian, legal and ethical perspectives.
The process by which autonomous weapon systems function:
:: brings risks of harm for those affected by armed conflict, both civilians and combatants, as well as dangers of conflict escalation
:: raises challenges for compliance with international law, including international humanitarian law, notably, the rules on the conduct of hostilities for the protection of civilians
:: raises fundamental ethical concerns for humanity, in effect substituting human decisions about life and death with sensor, software and machine processes.
The ICRC’s recommendations to States for the regulation of autonomous weapon systems
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has, since 2015, urged States to establish internationally agreed limits on autonomous weapon systems to ensure civilian protection, compliance with international humanitarian law, and ethical acceptability.
With a view to supporting current efforts to establish international limits on autonomous weapon systems that address the risks they raise, the ICRC recommends that States adopt new legally binding rules.
In particular:
[1] Unpredictable autonomous weapon systems should be expressly ruled out, notably because of their indiscriminate effects. This would best be achieved with a prohibition on autonomous weapon systems that are designed or used in a manner such that their effects cannot be sufficiently understood, predicted and explained.
[2] In light of ethical considerations to safeguard humanity, and to uphold international humanitarian law rules for the protection of civilians and combatants hors de combat, use of autonomous weapon systems to target human beings should be ruled out. This would best be achieved through a prohibition on autonomous weapon systems that are designed or used to apply force against persons.
[3] In order to protect civilians and civilian objects, uphold the rules of international humanitarian law and safeguard humanity, the design and use of autonomous weapon systems that would not be prohibited should be regulated, including through a combination of:
:: limits on the types of target, such as constraining them to objects that are military objectives by nature
:: limits on the duration, geographical scope and scale of use, including to enable human judgement and control in relation to a specific attack
:: limits on situations of use, such as constraining them to situations where civilians or civilian objects are not present
:: requirements for human–machine interaction, notably to ensure effective human supervision, and timely intervention and deactivation.
The ICRC supports initiatives by States aimed at establishing international limits on autonomous weapon systems that aim at effectively addressing concerns raised by these weapons, such as efforts pursued in the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons to agree on aspects of a normative and operational framework. Considering the speed of development in autonomous weapon systems’ technology and use, it is critical that internationally agreed limits be established in a timely manner. Beyond new legal rules, these limits may also include common policy standards and good practice guidance, which can be complementary and mutually reinforcing. To this end, and within the scope of its mandate and expertise, the ICRC stands ready to work in collaboration with relevant stakeholders at international and national levels, including representatives of governments, armed forces, the scientific and technical community, and industry.
Low- and Middle-Income Countries Received $540 billion in 2020, $8 Billion Less Than in 2019 WASHINGTON, May 12, 2021 — Despite COVID-19, remittance flows remained resilient in 2020, registering a smaller decline than previously projected. Officially recorded remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries reached $540 billion in 2020, just 1.6 percent below the 2019 total of $548 billion, according to the latest Migration and Development Brief.
The decline in recorded remittance flows in 2020 was smaller than the one during the 2009 global financial crisis (4.8 percent). It was also far lower than the fall in foreign direct investment (FDI) flows to low- and middle-income countries, which, excluding flows to China, fell by over 30 percent in 2020. As a result, remittance flows to low- and middle-income countries surpassed the sum of FDI ($259 billion) and overseas development assistance ($179 billion) in 2020.
The main drivers for the steady flow included fiscal stimulus that resulted in better-than-expected economic conditions in host countries, a shift in flows from cash to digital and from informal to formal channels, and cyclical movements in oil prices and currency exchange rates. The true size of remittances, which includes formal and informal flows, is believed to be larger than officially reported data, though the extent of the impact of COVID-19 on informal flows is unclear.
“As COVID-19 still devastates families around the world, remittances continue to provide a critical lifeline for the poor and vulnerable,” said Michal Rutkowski, Global Director of the Social Protection and Jobs Global Practice at the World Bank. “Supportive policy responses, together with national social protection systems, should continue to be inclusive of all communities, including migrants.”
Remittance inflows rose in Latin America and the Caribbean (6.5 percent), South Asia (5.2 percent) and the Middle East and North Africa (2.3 percent). However, remittance flows fell for East Asia and the Pacific (7.9 percent), for Europe and Central Asia (9.7 percent), and for Sub-Saharan Africa (12.5 percent). The decline in flows to Sub-Saharan Africa was almost entirely due to a 28 percent decline in remittance flows to Nigeria. Excluding flows to Nigeria, remittances to Sub-Saharan Africa increased by 2.3 percent, demonstrating resilience.
The relatively strong performance of remittance flows during the COVID-19 crisis has also highlighted the importance of timely availability of data. Given its growing significance as a source of external financing for low- and middle-income countries, there is a need for better collection of data on remittances, in terms of frequency, timely reporting, and granularity by corridor and channel…
Weekly Epidemiological and Operational updates Last update: 15 May 2021 Confirmed cases :: 161 513 458 [week ago: 156 496 592] Confirmed deaths :: 3 352 109 [week ago: 3 264 143] Vaccine doses administered: No data at inquiry
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Press conferences on COVID-19 14/05/2021 :: 54:01 WHO DG: “I understand why some countries want to vaccinate their children and adolescents, but right now I urge them to reconsider and to instead donate vaccines to COVAX
Weekly epidemiological update on COVID-19 – 11 May 2021 Overview Global overview: The number of new COVID-19 cases and deaths globally slightly decreased this week, with over 5.5 million cases and over 90 000 deaths. Case and death incidences, however, remain at the highest levels since the beginning of the pandemic. New weekly cases decreased in the regions of Europe and Eastern Mediterranean, while the South-East Asia Region continued an upward trajectory for 9 weeks and reported a further 6% increase last week. Special focus: In this edition, special focus updates are provided on four SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern [B.1.1.7 (VOC202012/01); B.1.351 (501Y.V2); P.1; B.1.617] and six variants of interest, including the geographic distribution, and phenotypic impacts on transmissibility, vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics.
POLIO Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC)
Polio this week as of12 May 2021 :: The GPEI has released the 2021 National Emergency Action Plan (NEAP) for Afghanistan which contains the current epidemiology and situational overview and progress on the 2020 NEAP among other contents. :: The latest issue of the newSpecial magazine features an article titled “Experience in eradicating polio helps COVID-19 response” which details the role that polio workers have played in fighting the pandemic. The article is available here on page 34. :: Last week, the GPEI and UN Foundation together with the UK and UAE Missions to the UN in New York hosted a high-level dialogue looking at the intersection of gender and immunization. The panelists made recommendations on championing women & girls in immunization, drawing on the polio programme. Watch the recorded discussion here.
Summary of new WPV and cVDPV viruses this week (AFP cases and ES positives): :: Afghanistan: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples :: Benin: one cVDPV2 case :: Burkina Faso: one cVDPV2 case :: Liberia: one cVDPV2 case :: Sierra Leone: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples :: Tajikistan: two cVDPV2 positive environmental samples :: Yemen : one cVDPV1 case
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WHO/OCHA Emergencies
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 since last update regardless of the level of the emergency listed.
Democratic Republic of the Congo– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 3 May 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]
Iraq– :: Iraq receives second delivery of COVID-19 vaccines through the COVAX Facility Baghdad, 12 May 2021 – Despite a continued global shortage and limited production of COVID-19 vaccines, on 9 May Iraq received the second shipment of the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine through the COVAX Facility. The arrival of the second shipment of exactly 499 200 doses brings the total number of vaccines received by the Iraqi health authorities from the COVAX Facility to nearly one million….
Afghanistan– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 5 July 2020] Angola– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16 March 2021] 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: 2 March 2020] Libya– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 7 October 2019] Malawi– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 22 April 2021 Measles in Europe– No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 26-04-2021] 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: 29 March 2021] Niger – No new digest announcements identified [Last apparent update: 16 avril 2021] 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]
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: 23 April 2021 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 2019]
1. We, the Foreign and Development Ministers of the Group of Seven (G7), and the High Representative of the European Union, are meeting today at a critical juncture for our people, our planet, our security and our future prosperity. Democracy is under pressure globally; the pandemic continues to pose acute global challenges; new technological threats are mounting; and the catastrophic effects of climate change are increasing. We commit to strengthening open societies, shared values, and the rules-based international order. We affirm that free and fair trade, and the free and secure flow of capital, data, knowledge, ideas and talent is essential to our long-term prosperity. We affirm that liberal democracy and free and fair markets remain the best models for inclusive, sustainable social and economic advancement. We commit to tackling threats jointly and committing our resources to achieve shared security. We will promote respect for, and protect, human rights for all individuals, regardless of where they live and whatever their identity, faith, gender, disability or race. We commit to working with the international community to further advance gender equality; and reaffirm the importance of focusing on educating girls, empowering women, and ending violence against women and girls…
2. We affirm the need to take collective action on the most pressing foreign and security challenges. The COVID-19 pandemic has underscored that global challenges require global collaboration. We reaffirm that investments in health systems will strengthen economic growth and our ability to respond to future pandemic threats. We reaffirm our commitment to working with developing partner countries, especially in Africa, to achieve a green, inclusive and sustainable recovery from COVID-19, aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement, including urgent equitable access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics. We commit to supporting developing partner countries to tackle and prevent the interlinked threats of conflict, climate change, poverty, food insecurity, and the health, humanitarian, human rights and economic effects of COVID-19; and building back better so that we are more prepared for future pandemics. We are deeply concerned that the pandemic has further set back progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). We commit to making increased efforts towards achieving the SDGs by 2030, and commit to ensuring that no-one is left behind…
III. Open societies
48. We believe that all people can benefit from a more open world, where democracy, respect for human rights, effective and accountable governance, and the rule of law can thrive; and where the benefits of prosperity are shared by all, through free and fair trade and global growth. We commit to work collectively to strengthen the foundations of open societies, promote human rights and inclusive connectivity. We commit to protect in a coordinated way against threats, including from disinformation and information operations, surveillance, malicious cyber activities, censorship, corruption, illicit finance and the closure of civic space. We also commit to reinforcing inclusive democratic institutions that protect the rights and freedoms of all persons: including safe and vibrant civic spaces, promoting digital inclusion, and supporting independent media. We support the important work undertaken by our Interior Minister colleagues on anti-corruption, addressing online harms and on working with the technology industry on public safety in system designs in protecting open societies online. We welcome and support the initiative of the United States to convene a Summit for Democracy. We commit to the following measures on media freedom, Internet shutdowns, cyber governance, freedom of religion or belief, the Rapid Response Mechanism, arbitrary detention. We look forward to Leader-level discussions on Open Societies with Australia, India, the Republic of Korea and South Africa at the G7 Summit in June.
Media freedom
49. We commit to championing media freedom as a vital part of upholding democracy and human rights around the world. We condemn intimidation, harassment and violence against journalists, noting that women, and those in marginalised and vulnerable situations, are disproportionately targets, both online and offline. We recognise the importance of diverse voices in shaping public debate, promoting transparency and ensuring accountability…
Internet shutdowns
52. We are concerned about actions by states to intentionally disrupt their own populations’ access to, or dissemination of, information, knowledge, and data online. Internet shutdowns and network restrictions undermine civic space, online and offline and unjustifiably limit access to information and the rights of peaceful assembly, association and freedom of expression online. We reaffirm our commitment to a multi-stakeholder approach to Internet governance and urge all countries, in accordance with their international legal obligations and commitments, to refrain from intentional disruptions that render Internet and mobile network services inaccessible or unusable, thereby undermining the exercise of individual rights and freedoms. We will improve our co-ordination, together with likeminded countries, civil society and the private sector, to address and respond to Internet shutdowns as they occur. We welcome the Freedom Online Coalition’s Joint Statement and Accompanying Good Practices for Government on State-Sponsored Network Disruptions…
Enabling equitable global access to COVID-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics (VTDs)
62. We affirm our belief that commitment to an open, transparent and multilateral approach is essential in responding to the global health impacts of COVID-19. A global health emergency on this scale requires co-ordinated action and global solidarity. We reaffirm our support for all existing pillars of Access to COVID-19 Tools Accelerator (ACT-A), including its COVAX facility. We recognise that equipping the ACT-Accelerator with adequate funding is central. We support the strengthening of health systems, and affordable and equitable global access to vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics, and we will further increase our efforts to support affordable and equitable access for people in need, taking approaches consistent with members’ commitments to incentivise innovation… In this context, we look forward to the COVAX Advance Market Commitment (AMC) Summit to be co-hosted by Gavi and Japan following the COVAX AMC One World Protected Event co-hosted by Gavi and US.
63. We commit to the G7 Foreign and Development Ministers’ Equitable Access and Collaboration Statement to help accelerate the end of the acute phase of the COVID-19 pandemic. We commit to supporting COVAX financially, including by encouraging pledges to the Facility, including at the COVAX AMC Summit in June, disbursing as soon as possible, providing in-kind contributions, and coordinating with and using COVAX, which is the key mechanism for global sharing of vaccines to supplement its own direct procurement, to enable the rapid equitable deployment of vaccines…
Ending violence against women and girls
74. We note with concern that COVID-19 has increased all forms of gender-based violence (GBV) and that women and girls facing multiple forms of discrimination are often at greatest risk. Stronger political will, greater resources and accountability are urgently required to address this issue…
The 2021 Global Report on Food Crises (GRFC 2021) highlights the remarkably high severity and numbers of people in Crisis or worse (IPC/CH Phase 3 or above) or equivalent in 55 countries/territories, driven by persistent conflict, pre-existing and COVID-19-related economic shocks, and weather extremes. The number identified in the 2021 edition is the highest in the report’s five-year existence. The report is produced by the Global Network against Food Crises (which includes WFP), an international alliance working to address the root causes of extreme hunger
ROME – The number of people facing acute food insecurity and needing urgent life and livelihood-saving assistance has hit a five-year high in 2020 in countries beset by food crises, an annual report launched today by the Global Network Against Food Crises (GNAFC) – an international alliance of the UN, the EU, governmental and non-governmental agencies working to tackle food crises together – has found. Conflict, economic shocks – including due to COVID-19, extreme weather – pushed at least 155 million people into acute food insecurity in 2020.
The stark warning from the 2021 Global Report on Food Crises reveals that conflict, or economic shocks that are often related to COVID-19 along with extreme weather, are continuing to push millions of people into acute food insecurity.
Report’s key findings:
The report reveals that at least 155 million people experienced acute food insecurity at Crisis or worse levels (IPC/CH Phase 3 or worse) – or equivalent – across 55 countries/territories in 2020 – an increase of around 20 million people from the previous year, and raises a stark warning about a worrisome trend: acute food insecurity has kept up its relentless rise since 2017 – the first edition of the report.
Of these, around 133 000 people were in the most severe phase of acute food insecurity in 2020 – Catastrophe (IPC/CH Phase 5) – in Burkina Faso, South Sudan and Yemen where urgent action was needed to avert widespread death and a collapse of livelihoods.
At least another 28 million people faced Emergency (IPC/CH Phase 4) level of acute food insecurity in 2020 – meaning they were one step away from starvation – across 38 countries/territories where urgent action saved lives and livelihoods, and prevented famine spreading.
Thirty-nine (39) countries/territories have experienced food crises during the five years that the GNAFC has been publishing its annual report; in these countries/territories, the population affected by high levels of acute food insecurity (IPC/CH Phase 3 or worse) increased from 94 to 147 million people between 2016 and 2020.
Additionally, in the 55 food-crisis countries/territories covered by the report, over 75 million children under five were stunted (too short) and over 15 million wasted (too thin) in 2020.
Countries in Africa remained disproportionally affected by acute food insecurity. Close to 98 million people facing acute food insecurity in 2020 – or two out of three – were on the African continent. But other parts of the world have also not been spared, with countries including Yemen, Afghanistan, Syria and Haiti among the ten worst food crises last year.
The key drivers behind rising acute food insecurity in 2020 were:
:: conflict (main driver pushing almost 100 million people into acute food insecurity in 20 countries/territories, up from 77 million in 2019);
:: economic shocks – often due to COVID-19 – replaced weather events as the second driver of acute food insecurity both in terms of numbers of people and countries affected (over 40 million people in 17 countries/territories, up from 24 million and 8 countries in 2019); and,
:: weather extremes (around 16 million people in 15 countries/territories, down from 34 million in 25 countries/territories).
While conflict will remain the major driver of food crises in 2021, COVID-19 and related containment measures and weather extremes will continue to exacerbate acute food insecurity in fragile economies…
GENEVA (6 May 2021) – UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet on Thursday sounded the alarm over the rising number of threats, attacks and attempts to undermine and delegitimise independent national human rights institutions (NHRIs) in Latin America and the Caribbean by Governments and others in positions of power.
Over the last two years, the UN Human Rights Office has received increasing complaints from NHRIs (Defensorías del Pueblo, Procuradurías para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos, Ombudsperson Offices) in the region, who have been harassed and threatened by Governments, parliamentarians, officials, vigilante groups and others simply for doing their work and fulfilling their mandate.
Reported incidents include threats or harassment against the institutions or their staff in Bolivia, Chile and El Salvador; attacks against the premises and staff of the NHRI in Haiti; attempts to remove the head of the organization in Guatemala and Mexico at the state level. Also of concern are public statements discrediting the institutions’ work in Ecuador and Uruguay; budget cuts and the lifting of the immunity of the NHRI head in Peru.
The High Commissioner also voiced concern at the failure for a decade to appoint an Ombudsperson in Argentina.
“The fact that we have received complaints from institutions in almost a dozen countries in the region is striking testimony to the expanding trend and magnitude of the problem,” Bachelet said.
“The work of independent national human rights institutions is crucial for any society. However, they can only fulfil their mandate of protecting and promoting human rights if they are able to operate without undue interference by governments and others, and are able to keep their independence. Otherwise, they will lose their credibility and legitimacy in the eyes of the people they are meant to serve,” she said.
“Let me be very clear: these institutions, who work closely with my Office and the UN human rights mechanisms, must not face any form of abuse or interference, especially political pressure. I urge governments across the region to abide by their responsibilities and respect and protect the independence of the national human rights institutions,” the UN Human Rights Chief said.
These responsibilities are enshrined in the Paris Principles, a set of minimum international standards for effective and credible NHRIs adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1993. The Paris Principles state that NHRIs should uphold international human rights standards in an impartial and independent manner.
The High Commissioner acknowledged that NHRIs could pose challenges for governments because, according to their mandates, they have the duty to highlight gaps in the protection of human rights. However, she stressed that Governments can benefit from their independent assessments to help resolve human rights problems -a role that any democratic society should welcome.
Bachelet called on the respective authorities to establish prompt, thorough, independent and effective investigations into each and every alleged attack, act of reprisal, threat or intimidation against these key institutions.
She also stressed that in the current context of the pandemic, NHRIs play an even more essential role, as they have the additional duty of ensuring a human rights-based approach to the COVID-19 response.
The Department of Defense (DoD) is one of many government agencies that operates globally and is in constant contact with diverse cultures. Communicative understanding, not simply of local languages but also of social customs and cultural backgrounds, lies at the heart of Civil Affairs and Military Information Support Operations activities. These collectively comprise a vast majority of U.S. counterinsurgency and stabilization efforts. Within these activities, cross-cultural miscommunication can derail negotiations, incite hostile discourse – even lead to war. The likelihood of communicative failure increases dramatically where significant social, cultural, or ideological differences exist.
Automated systems would be a welcome force-multiplier for DoD interpreters. However, unlike the human cultural interpreters who enable U.S. forces today, current AI-enabled systems are incapable of accurately analyzing cross-cultural communication or providing useful assistance beyond basic machine translation. While there have been significant advances made in machine learning and multimedia analysis, a number of critical deficiencies in these systems still remain.
“To support users engaged in cross-cultural dialogue, AI-enabled systems need to go beyond providing language translation – they need to leverage deep social and cultural understanding to assist communication,” said Dr. William Corvey, a program manager in DARPA’s Information Innovation Office (I2O). “Moving AI from a tool to a partner in this capacity will require significant advances in our machines’ ability to discover and interpret sociocultural factors, recognize emotions, detect shifts in communication styles, and provide dialogue assistance when miscommunications seem imminent – all in real-time.”
To assist negotiations and aid critical interactions, DARPA developed the Computational Cultural Understanding (CCU) program. The goal of CCU is to create a cross-cultural language understanding service to improve a DoD operator’s situational awareness and ability to effectively interact with diverse international audiences. The program seeks to develop natural language processing (NLP) technologies that recognize, adapt to, and recommend how to operate within the emotional, social, and cultural norms that differ across societies, languages, and communities.
CCU is divided into two primary research areas. The first is focused on research and development efforts to address a specific set of challenges limiting the application of current human language and communication technologies. These challenges include: 1) the discovery of sociocultural norms, 2) emotion recognition as a function of sociocultural norms, and 3) detection of impactful changes in sociocultural norms and emotions.
Humans acquire inferred knowledge of diverse and varied sociocultural norms through a lifetime of learning and interaction. CCU aims to emulate this learning capability, creating technologies that are capable of automatic discovery of the sociocultural norms that influence discourse, including the social, cultural, and contextual factors that impact effective communication and rapport building.
CCU also aims to create a capability that can recognize speaker emotions across different languages and cultures. Human interpreters continuously monitor emotional feedback from conversational participants (e.g. facial expression, tone of voice, diction), using this information to gauge how the interaction is progressing and alter the exchange as needed. In order to interpret speaker emotions as influenced by sociocultural context, CCU will focus on developing multimodal human language technologies capable of generalizing their recognition of emotion across different languages and cultures.
Furthermore, CCU seeks to create capabilities to detect significant changes in communication that could indicate impending conflict or dispute. While promising change detection methods exist, current frameworks lack an understanding of which features are most crucial to detecting imminent communicative failure.
To help promote truly effective cross-cultural interaction, CCU technologies must be able to not only detect potential misunderstandings but also generate alternative socioculturally-appropriate responses. As such, the second research area in CCU will focus on the development of a dialogue assistance service. The target service will automate the detection of sociocultural context, including aspects related to identity and group affinity, and leverage the outputs of the first research area in order to follow ongoing conversations, detect misunderstandings in real-time, and provide dialogue assistance to human operators to prevent communications from going awry and/or provide remediation support.
GE2P2 Global :: Knowledge Sharing; Ideas; Operations 