On Standby
From October 26 to 30, 2020, the open-ended intergovernmental working group on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights (OEIGWG) met for the sixth time at the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Council in Geneva. The discussions were based on the second revised draft presented by the Ecuadorian Chair of the working group in August 2020. The session was overshadowed by the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
It was held in a hybrid format, i.e. with the option of on-site or virtual participation. Of the 66 participating states, many said they were [...]
Financing Sustainable Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond - An analysis and assessment of innovative policy options
In the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, the United Nations (UN) estimated that developing countries needed an extra US$ 2.5 trillion in external finance to cope with the consequences of the crisis. This vast sum is needed because additional spending needs – for example on health services and social protection – coincide with a simultaneous collapse of all traditional sources of development finance: tax revenue, export earnings, migrant remittances, foreign direct investment and, to a lesser extent, also official development assistance (ODA). In order to discuss how these finances could be [...]
Shifting policies for systemic change
Lessons from the global COVID-19 crisis
This is the fifth edition of the report Spotlight on Sustainable Development. Since 2016, we have published this report annually to assess not only the implementation of the 2030 Agenda but also the structural obstacles in its realization.
When we started to plan for this year’s report in Autumn 2019, mass protests were shaking a growing number of countries in various regions of the world. In Ecuador, Brazil, Chile and Argentina, in Egypt, Lebanon, and in India, millions of people took to the streets to demonstrate against the prevailing policies.
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