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With the pandemic worsening the plight of those already experiencing multidimensional poverty, and pushing many more people into food insecurity and immiseration, countries must urgently strengthen social protections to ensure an inclusive recovery, United Nations officials emphasized at the opening of the 60th Commission for Social Development (CSocD60) on 7 February.
Overcoming the inequalities laid bare by the pandemic calls for vigorous public action combining the intensity of a short-term response with long-term goals, said María del Carmen Squeff (Argentina), Commission Chair. In an impassioned address, which she commenced with a quote from a comic panel featuring the character Mafalda created by the Argentinian cartoonist Quino, she questioned why the world is going from one year to the next, without having resolved any of its problems, including poverty, hunger, and inequality. “Tonight, there are people who have nothing to eat,” she stressed.
The session’s priority theme — “Strengthening multilateralism to deliver well-being and dignity for all by addressing food insecurity and the eradication of poverty, including through the promotion of sustainable food systems” — squarely addresses such concerns, she continued. Citing a figure from a report on food security by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), she said 811 million people do not know what they will eat today, pointing out that pandemic recovery is taking place at “two different paces, with many left behind”. Recalling the Secretary-General’s recent statement about vaccination rates being seven times higher in wealthier countries than in less wealthy nations, she asked: “Are we aware of the catastrophic consequences of such gaps in a post-pandemic world?”
She called for all countries to act with great urgency to bring about an inclusive, resilient and transformative recovery that responds to exacerbated structural inequalities. “If you dream alone, you are alone in your dream; if you dream with others, you make history,” she said.
Abdulla Shahid (Maldives), President of the General Assembly, in a pre‑recorded video message, said that, as the world enters the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic, with mingled frustration around the omicron variant, and hope that the end is approaching, it is important to consider the lessons learned by the crisis, which can be applied to the post-COVID era. Noting that the pandemic has greatly impacted sustainable development, with 600 million people close to extreme poverty, and 3 billion people unable to afford a healthy diet, he stressed: “These are startling numbers.”
He called for an integration of the Sustainable Development Goals into plans for building back better “to ensure we do not simply recreate the systems and institutions we had before”. This can be accomplished through a greater investment and sharing of technologies, resources and capacities; by prioritizing universal access to basic services and infrastructure, especially around education, nutrition and health care; investing in a “green and blue” recovery, and setting up strong social protections to reach the groups that have been left furthest behind.
Echoing these points, Collen Vixen Kelapile (Botswana), President of the Economic and Social Council, which oversees the Commission, said the pandemic has severely hampered implementation of Sustainable Development Goals on poverty and hunger. Developing countries, especially in Africa, are being left behind, with slower economic growth and highly unequal access to the vaccines and the financial resources to support their recovery. The annual theme of the Economic and Social Council and the high-level political forum on sustainable development is precisely about “Building back better from the coronavirus disease while advancing the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. Describing the Commission as the home for pursuing Goal 10 on reducing inequality, he said the subsidiary body can help the Council and the political forum to develop innovative, evidence-based and impactful policy guidance on recovering better from COVID-19.
Meanwhile, Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations, in a pre-recorded video message, stressed the need for recovery strategies to address inequality, poverty, hunger and food insecurity, among others. Social policies are at the heart of such strategies. The Secretary-General, in his Our Common Agenda report, called for renewing the social contract to ensure equal opportunities, economic security and well-being of all. He has proposed to hold a World Social Summit in 2025, building on the 1995 World Summit for Social Development. The Commission’s deliberations can serve as the springboard to the 2025 Summit that will re-energize efforts to accelerate progress in achieving the Goals.
Liu Zhenmin, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, noted that the COVID-19 crisis has exacerbated multiple forms of deprivation. The world is not on track to meet the most fundamental Goal of eradicating extreme poverty, he said, adding: “The prospect of global recovery is darkened by the uneven access to vaccines.” Without decisive action, the number of people living in extreme poverty is expected to reach 600 million, or 7 per cent of the world’s population, by 2030. Highlighting the critical role of social policies amid COVID-19, particularly to protect vulnerable people — including children and older persons, persons with disabilities, indigenous peoples and people living in rural areas — he stressed the importance of universal access to social protection, to enhance economic and food security during times of crisis. “From December 2020 to May 2021, total spending on social protection rose by almost 270 per cent, reaching $2.9 trillion,” he pointed out.
Maria Fornella-Oehninger and Monica Jahangir-Chowdhury, Co-Chairs of the Non-Governmental Organization Committee on Social Development, pointing out that the pandemic pushed hundreds of millions of individuals and families into poverty and hunger, on top of the 1.3 billion people already living in multidimensional poverty, quoted an activist living in poverty, who said: “Poverty is being treated like cattle; you have no dignity and no identity.” The pandemic has revealed the extent to which the old social contract holding societies together has been broken, they said, outlining recommendations for a renewed social contract from their Civil Society Declaration, drafted by the Committee on Non‑Governmental Organizations, another Council subsidiary body. The recommendations include investment in national social protection floors; the establishment of a Global Fund for Social Protection to provide capacity to least developed countries; ensuring that persons living in poverty are equal before the law; the scaling up of climate resilience across food systems; and promoting early and life-long education.
Lynrose Jane D. Genon, Youth Representative from the Philippines, in a pre‑recorded address, described the pandemic’s impact on her country’s job market and poverty, citing the rise of the unemployment rate to 17.6 per cent in April 2020 from 5 per cent before the crisis. In May 2021, the unemployment rate was 7.7 per cent, and the youth unemployment rate was 14.5 per cent, implying that 1.12 million young Filipinos were unemployed. Underscoring access to education, she noted that one fifth of Filipino elementary and high school students failed to enrol for academic year 2020-2021 and will likely miss enrolment again due to the pandemic. She called for steps to be taken to address the digital divide. Girls are at an ever-greater risk of falling out of school due to increasing care work at home, she said, calling for investment in young people as leaders and in local youth-led initiatives, as well as more inclusive and gender-sensitive social protection systems.
In other business, the Commission elected by acclamation Hellen Chifwaila (Zambia), Guo Jiakun (China) and Iwona Lula (Poland) as Vice-Chairs, with Ms. Chifwaila also serving as Rapporteur. The Commission also adopted its provisional agenda (document E/CN.5/2022/1) and work programme contained in Annex I of the same document.
Daniela Bas, Director, Division for Inclusive Social Development, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, introduced Secretary-General’s reports titled “Social dimensions of the New Partnership for Africa’s Development” (document E/CN.5/2022/2); “Inclusive and resilient recovery from COVID-19 for sustainable livelihoods, well-being and dignity for all: eradicating poverty and hunger in all its forms and dimensions to achieve the 2030 Agenda” (document E/CN.5/2022/3); “Implementation of the objectives of the International Year of the Family and its follow-up processes (document A/77/61-E/2022/4); and “Preliminary assessment of the fourth review and appraisal of the Madrid International Plan of Action on Ageing, 2002” (document E/CN.5/2022/4).
For more information about the CSocD60, please visit: http://bit.ly/un-csocd60.