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On August 23 2021, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) performed the long desired payout of special drawing rights (SDRs) to the tune of 650 billion US dollars. Especially for countries of the Global South, the SDRs are a welcome cash injection. Unlike the EU and the USA with their economic recovery programs worth trillions, developing countries have so far only been able to mobilize few financial resources to cope with the impacts of the crisis, and for this reason too, they are lagging behind in vaccination campaigns for their people as well as in the sustainable restoration of their [...]

From the Supply Chain Act towards an international Level Playing Field

Cover UN treaty 3rd revised draft EN

From the Supply Chain Act towards an international Level Playing Field

In 2014, the Human Rights Council of the United Nations (UN) mandated an intergovernmental working group to draft an international treaty for the protection of human rights in the global economy. Since then, the intergovernmental working group, which consists of governments, representatives of civil societies and business, has been meeting annually to negotiate the current status of the draft. The third revised draft constitutes the basis for negotiations during the seventh meeting of the working group from October 25 to 29, 2021, in Geneva.

Networked Multilateralism, Partnerships, and the Private Sector at the UNGA 76

Cover UN Monitor #28

Networked Multilateralism, Partnerships, and the Private Sector at the UNGA 76

By Elena Marmo

The UN General Assembly (UNGA) began its 76th session in September 2021 with a series of High-level meetings—in both hybrid and in-person formats—under the theme of 'Building Resilience through hope to recover from COVID-19, rebuild sustainably, respond to the needs of the planet, respect the rights of people, and revitalize the United Nations'. As the UN Decade of Action progresses, efforts to secure human, economic, and environmental health are vital. During the UNGA High-level week and throughout the month Member States focused on the need to create a more inclusive future [...]

Ways out of the global health crisis

One Health

Ways out of the global health crisis

The COVID-19 pandemic has drastically demonstrated just how close the link is between humans, animals, and the environment, and has highlighted and aggravated existing challenges. The destruction of natural habitats and displacement of species, trade in wild animals, resource-intensive lifestyles and conditions, non-sustainable food systems and, in particular, industrial agriculture and intensive livestock farming are the causes of the emergence of zoonoses as well as numerous other communicable and non-communicable, chronic diseases.

The One Health approach focuses precisely on such [...]

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Publications

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Demanding justice beyond rhetoric

Cover spotlight 2021

Demanding justice beyond rhetoric

Time to overcome contradictions and hypocrisy in the COVID-19 crisis

Policy responses to the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting economic crisis have greatly exacerbated national and global inequalities. Blatant examples are the unfair distribution of care work, relying mainly on women and poorly remunerated if at all, and the global disparity in the distribution of vaccines.

So far more than 60 percent of people in high-income countries have received at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, but less than 2 percent have done so in low-income countries. In view of this dramatic disparity, the [...]

The new debt crisis and what to do about it

Cover_debt crisis

The new debt crisis and what to do about it

Global debt levels have been surging constantly over the past decade, and the need to fight the COVID-19 crisis with running fiscal deficits and borrowing money has been a further shock to global economies. While central bank interventions have been keeping interest rates low in the global north, countries in the global south are particularly vulnerable to crisis because they owe large amounts of external debts. The risk of debt crisis is high and debt service costs are rising rapidly. Each dollar spent on debt service in low-income countries is a dollar that is not being spent on financing [...]

Broad consensus, paltry results

Cover_FfD forum_04_21_en

Broad consensus, paltry results

The UN Forum on Financing for Development (FfD) 2021 was the first FfD forum held as planned since the outbreak of the COVID-19 crisis. Accordingly, the expectations were high. Development finance is currently facing a triple challenge: to mitigate the humanitarian crisis, funds for an acute crisis response are needed – for example, to finance universal access to vaccines through the COVAX-facility, or for social protection measures. To mitigate the further divergence between countries, resources must be made available for economic stimulus programmes in the Global South that match those of [...]

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