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Frauen in der Krise doppelt im Stress

Sparen auf Befehl: die NL-Klubs wollen mit einer Lohnobergrenze aufs Bremspedal treten. Aber wie will man die Geldflüsse kontrollieren?

An association of ten major European environmental organisations today (14 May) launched an appeal to the European Union to come up with a green and fair reconstruction plan. Today, the EU Parliament will vote on its position on this issue. EURACTIV Germany reports.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s AgriFood Brief, your weekly update on all things Agriculture & Food in the EU. You can subscribe here if you haven’t done so yet. Agriculture Commissioner backs Poland’s plan to hike CAP spending The EU’s Agriculture Commissioner,...

By Thalif Deen
UNITED NATIONS, May 14 2020 (IPS)

The relentless battle against the devastating coronavirus pandemic has been underlined by several widespread advisories from health experts – STAY HOME. WASH YOUR HANDS. WEAR MASK. KEEP SOCIAL DISTANCE.

But the UK-based WaterAid and UN Habitat in Nairobi point out the paradox in at least two of the warnings: a staggering 3.0 billion people worldwide have no water to wash their hands and over 1.8 billion people have no adequate shelter—or homes to go to.

The deadly coronavirus pandemic has undermined the UN’s battle against extreme poverty and hunger, and upended its longstanding campaign for “water and sanitation for all” and shelter for the homeless -– all of which are an integral part of the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

“The poorest people in the world are being left to face the COVID-19 pandemic alone,” says WaterAid, “with not even the most basic defence — clean water and a bar of soap”, one way to prevent the spread of the disease.

And worse still, in over 50 recent financial commitments made by donor agencies to developing countries, only 6 of them have any mention of hygiene, complains WaterAid, an international non-governmental organisation, focused on water, sanitation and hygiene.

Meanwhile, in terms of homelessness, even the world’s rich nations have not been spared.

In 2018, says Habitat, the European Federation of National Organisations Working with the Homeless reported that homelessness had skyrocketed across the continent.

And in the United States, 500,000 people are currently homeless, 40 per cent of whom are unsheltered.

In a locked-down New York city, the homeless have virtually taking over empty subway cars while turning subway stations into homeless shelters – even as City authorities are physically driving them out to the streets, with no homes to go to.

Kathryn Tobin, Advocacy Coordinator at WaterAid, told IPS the COVID-19 pandemic threatens to derail the focus of the international community away from the SDGs, especially with crises at home that may fuel anti-aid sentiment in industrialised countries.

But what should actually happen is the opposite: COVID-19 should be a wake-up call to the world that our current trajectory is not only unsustainable but destructive, especially for those already living in poverty and facing discrimination, she added.

“The pandemic should inspire a global turning point, towards a massive increase in public spending for health, water and sanitation, housing and infrastructure required to tamp the flow of the virus, but also for social protection, education, living wages, and the rest of the SDGs, to address the economic impact of the pandemic through major economic stimulus as we’ve seen in the richer countries,” Tobin argued.

Pedro Conceição, Director of the Human Development Report Office at UNDP, told IPS that UNDP recently published two dashboards with data for 189 countries and territories that revealed significant disparities on countries’ abilities to cope with and recover from the COVID-19 crisis.

And these differences, he pointed out, include but also go beyond the capacity of their health systems.

He pointed out that more than 40 percent of the global population does not have any social protection and more than 6.5 billion people around the globe – 85 percent of the global population – still don’t have access to reliable broadband internet, which limits their ability to work and continue their education.

”It is important to ensure the response to COVID-19 comes with an equity lens. Countries, communities and groups that were already lagging behind will be particularly affected by the fallout from COVID-19.”

If they are left further behind, he warned, the consequences could have long-term impacts in advancing human development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.

According to the UN World Economic Situation and Prospects (WESP) mid-2020 report, released May 13, the pandemic will likely cause an estimated 34.3 million people to fall below the extreme poverty line in 2020, with 56% of this increase occurring in African countries,

An additional 130 million people may join to the ranks of people living in extreme poverty by 2030, dealing a huge blow to global efforts for eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.

The pandemic, which is disproportionately hurting low-skilled, low-wage jobs, while leaving higher-skilled jobs less affected – will further widen income inequality within and between countries, the report noted.

In an joint op-ed piece for IPS, Maimunah Mohd Sharif, UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN-Habitat & Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Adequate Housing, call on governments “to take steps to protect people who are the most vulnerable to the pandemic by providing adequate shelter where it is lacking and ensuring the housed do not become homeless because of the economic consequences of the pandemic.”

These crucial measures include stopping all evictions, postponing eviction court proceedings, prohibiting utility shut-offs and ensuring renters and mortgage payers do not accrue insurmountable debt during lockdowns.

“In addition, vacant housing and hotel rooms should be allocated to people experiencing homelessness or fleeing domestic violence. Basic health care should be provided to people living in homelessness regardless of citizenship status and cash transfers should be established for people in urgent need.”

WaterAid’s Tobin said for those with historical obligations to provide development assistance and climate finance, COVID-19 should inject an urgency to provide unconditional and immediate financing (through debt cancellation, a new allocation of SDRs, global taxation, all the measures we outline in our blog) to enable developing countries to fund their COVID-19 response.

But these should not be temporary relief measures.

COVID, she said, should inspire a new social contract between states and their people (regardless of citizenship), and reignite multilateralism to redirect the world towards climate justice, economic justice, gender justice, etc.

“The pandemic should not be used as an excuse to postpone the fulfilment of the SDGs (kicking the can down the road and leaving the world even less prepared for the next pandemic or manifestation of climate crisis) but should be the moment in which governments band together to fulfil their duty of care for both people and the planet,” she declared.

Meanwhile, the World Health Assembly is scheduled to meet next week, but current drafts of the resolution have failed to put any emphasis on how vital hygiene is and there is no plan as to how to close the huge access gap.

Vaccines and therapeutics are obviously vital, but equal emphasis needs to be put on prevention, especially in countries with such weak health systems, a statement from WaterAid.

The draft World Health Assembly (WHA) resolution on COVID-19, which will be discussed at a virtual WHA next week, has no mention of water and hygiene access as fundamental preventative and protective measures, and fails to put in a place any sort of plan to tackle the huge gaps in access to this first line of defence. 

WaterAid believes this is a dereliction of duty from both donor countries and national governments of countries where access is low, and flies in the face of WHO’s advice to Member States which calls for urgent provision of hygiene services in communities and health centres.

The writer can be contacted at thalifdeen@ips.org

The post Stay Home? Wash Hands? But 1.8 Billion Remain Homeless & 3.0 Billion Have No Access to Water appeared first on Inter Press Service.

Le « Projet Route des pêches », rebaptisé « Projet de développement de la zone à vocation touristique Cotonou-Ouidah » est l'un des projets phare du gouvernement Talon, qui vise à renforcer le secteur du tourisme. Plusieurs modifications apportées au projet vont impacter les populations riveraines mais aussi favorisées un développement harmonieux de la zone.

En conseil des ministres le mercredi 29 avril 2020, le gouvernement béninois a approuvé la rectification des coordonnées géographiques de la zone concernée par le « Projet Route des pêches ».
Le décret n° 2005-664 du 3 novembre 2005 portant classement de la zone à vocation touristique exclusive de la route des pêches prescrit une superficie de 15.853 hectares. Une superficie au-delà de l'emprise du projet qui est de 3712 hectares sur terre ferme. Le gouvernement a donc procédé à la correction des coordonnées géographiques du périmètre objet de la déclaration d'utilité publique intervenue en 2006.
Les modifications apportées au projet favorisent et soulagent les populations riveraines. Il s'agit entre autres de la redéfinition du périmètre concerné, le dégel des restrictions induites par le classement de la zone sur certaines propriétés manifestement sans intérêt pour le projet et la préservation des agglomérations et zones de forte densité de population. Les modifications concernent également des mesures d'aménagement spécifique et des mesures de remembrement.
Selon le nouveau décret adopté en Conseil des Ministres, le périmètre actuel du « Projet de développement de la zone à vocation touristique Cotonou-Ouidah » se limite, de Fiyégnon jusqu'à Togbin Daho au niveau de l'atelier nomade Alougbin Dine, en ce qui concerne le côté opposé à l'océan, à la route bitumée, ses dépendances, ainsi que les domaines privés issus de l'extension du domaine public maritime ou de la plage, retrouvés de l'autre côté de la voie.
Pour un développement harmonieux de la zone, le gouvernement a retenu la création de zones d'aménagement concerté dans le périmètre afin d'assurer l'adéquation des constructions environnantes avec la vocation du site.
Le Projet Route des pêches vise la construction et l'aménagement d'infrastructures touristiques adéquates répondant aux normes universelles le long du Littoral à partir de Fidjrossè dans la municipalité de Cotonou, à environ deux kilomètres de l'Hôtel Casa Del Papa dans la commune de Ouidah.

The European Commission is examining Hungary's emergency regime, including government decrees affecting the country's labour code and the application of the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), Vera Jourová told the European Parliament on Thursday (14 May).

Divisions have opened within the UK government following reports that Boris Johnson’s administration is preparing to offer increased access to the UK market for US agriculture exports and possibly lower the bar on environmental and health standards.

Le chef de la diplomatie algérienne Sabri Boukadou a convoqué, mercredi l’Ambassadeur du Maroc, suite aux dernières déclarations du consul marocain hier à Oran, indique ce jeudi un communiqué du ministère des affaires étrangères. En effet, « l’ambassadeur du royaume du Maroc a été convoqué hier mercredi 13 mai par le ministre des affaires étrangères […]

L’article Sabri Boukadoum convoque l’ambassadeur du Maroc est apparu en premier sur .

« C’est un signe de l’immense amour que le Seigneur a pour l’indigne serviteur que je suis. Vous voyez la dissymétrie entre son immense amour et ma pauvreté, cela me donne de lui dire grandement merci ». C’est en ces termes que Mgr Emmanuel Dassi Youfang a accueilli sa nomination par le pape François, comme […]

L’article Cameroun : nomination de Mgr Emmanuel Dassi Youfang et fin de vacance à la tête du diocèse de Bafia est apparu en premier sur Afrik.com.

Le chef de l’état Abdelmadjid Tebboune a mis fin aux fonctions du directeur de la justice militaire, le général Amar Boussis. Un décret présidentiel, publié aujourd’hui au Journal officiel,indique que le Chef de l’état avait mis fin aux  fonctions du général Amar Boussis en sa qualité de directeur de la justice militaire, le 3 mai 2020. […]

L’article Tebboune met fin aux fonctions du directeur de la justice militaire est apparu en premier sur .

Langsam nimmt die Swiss den Flugbetrieb wieder auf. Los geht es im Juni.

Die Kommission startete das Vertragsverletzungsverfahren gegen Österreich im Januar 2019, nun folgt die Klage. Die Argumente der Regierung überzeugten Brüssel nicht, sie vermutet Diskriminierung. Anders sieht das Europaministerin Karoline Edtstadler (ÖVP), sagte sie gegenüber EURACTIV Deutschland.

Demokratie und Grundrechte sind in Ungarn bedroht, sagen die meisten Abgeordneten, die die Kommission und den Rat auffordern, die ungarischen Bürger und die Rechtsstaatlichkeit zu schützen.
Ausschuss für bürgerliche Freiheiten, Justiz und Inneres

Quelle : © Europäische Union, 2020 - EP

C’est une première: les CT scanners sont désormais équipés d’un logiciel de reconstruction d’images fonctionnant grâce à l’IA. Avec de nombreux avantages.

Csütörtökön regisztrálta a szlovák koronavírus-tesztet az Állami Gyógyszerellenőrzési Hivatal (ŠÚKL) – tájékoztatta a TASR hírügynökséget Magdaléna Jurkemíková, a hivatal szóvivője.

The usually busy UN Avenue in Nairobi, Kenya where traffic is bumper to bumper on the best of days, is almost empty as people stay at home to avoid spreading the coronavirus. Credit: UN Kenya/Newton Kanhema

By Siddharth Chatterjee
NAIROBI, Kenya, May 14 2020 (IPS)

We live in a different world to the one we inhabited six short months ago.

With more than 4 million people infected and over 280,000 dead globally by mid May 2020, Covid-19 has ruthlessly exposed the vulnerability of a globalised world to pandemic disease. People are slowly coming to terms with the frightening and heartbreaking death toll, and we are still not out of the danger.

The Greek philosopher Herophilus said, “When health is absent, wisdom cannot reveal itself, art cannot manifest, strength cannot fight, wealth becomes useless, and intelligence cannot be applied.”

The bio-threat has already upended our notions of community interaction, with face masks, latex gloves and physical distancing becoming the new normal. Science has been challenged and experts in various fields struggle to understand the short and long-term consequences of the pandemic.

Lack of robust global public health systems has proven to be a chink in the world’s armour. It has also revealed a truth that we ignore at our peril: healthcare systems around the world have been sorely tested in managing this outbreak, and without substantial reprioritisation of investment in health and research globally, we will be no better equipped when the next pandemic strikes.

Describing COVID 19 as a threat multiplier, the UN Deputy Secretary General, Ms Amina Mohammed said, “We have a health emergency, a humanitarian emergency and now a development emergency. These emergencies are compounding existing inequalities”.

While no country has been spared, the impact upon families and individuals has varied around the world, exposing huge global and local inequalities.

The consequences of high uninsured rates and high out-of-pocket health costs are being revealed. Even before the Covid-19 outbreak, more than 100 million people per year risked being plunged into poverty by a ‘shock’ in terms of unanticipated expenditure on medical treatment.

World Food Programme analysis shows that, due to the Coronavirus, an additional 265 million people are marching towards the brink of starvation by the year end because of the virus’s effects on jobs and family finances.

Leading UN reforms & ensuring the UN is fit for purpose in the countries they serve, the Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed (centre), at the first-ever high-level meeting on the fight against tuberculosis. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus (left), Director- General of World Health Organization (WHO) and María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés(right), President of the 73rd Session of the UN General Assembly. September 2018, New York, USA. Credit: UN / Eskinder Debebe

The social and economic upheaval we face today has changed the world and will go on changing it for many years. Behind the headlines of an economic decline that might rival the Great Depression of the 1930s are families separated by closed international borders, some mourning relatives they never managed to see and comfort, and millions who no longer have jobs.

What must we do to prevent the next pandemic striking the world.

Like rain that exposes a leaking roof, the coronavirus crisis has revealed unanticipated problems inherent in our dependence on global supply chains and amplified longstanding structural deficiencies in health systems around the world. We can see now that under-investment in public health in one country is a threat to global health security everywhere. Responses to health emergencies cannot succeed if any part of the world is left behind.

The central importance of universal health coverage and ensuring healthy lives and promote wellbeing for all at all ages, as manifested in Sustainable Development Goal 3, (SDG3) by 2030, is clear.

With Africa’s population expected to grow to 2.3 billion by 2050, for Africa to reap a demographic dividend, as well as prevent disease outbreaks, Governments should:

1. Reassess policy priorities and direct greater funding to health.
2. Invest more in disease prevention.
3. Improved working conditions for medical staff.
4. Offer fit-for-purpose health insurance to their people.
5. Harness big data, technology, and innovation to leapfrog universal health coverage.
6. Forge public private partnerships to address the gaps to attain SDG 3.
7. Create an army of community health workers.

The WHO Chief, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, a public health champion, who as Minster of Health in Ethiopia, a country once notorious for the highest maternal and child mortality in Africa, ensured the country achieved the health related Millennium Development Goals, by unleashing the full potential of community health workers. He said that, “By fully harnessing the potential of community health workers, including by dramatically improving their working and living conditions, we can make progress together towards universal health coverage and achieving the health targets of the Sustainable Development Goals.”

Doctors, nurses, carers and paramedics around the world are facing unprecedented workload in overstretched health facilities. The heroism, dedication and selflessness of medical staff allow the rest of us a degree of reassurance. In fact health workers are the frontline soldiers battling the pandemic. They deserve the same recognition and respect as women and men from the Armed Forces who are sent into battle in service of their country.

Additionally, the creation of robust health surveillance infrastructure in low-income countries will benefit the whole world in terms of early warning of disease outbreaks, and the ability to focus resources where and when they are needed.

To achieve this, new models of multilateral and public private partnerships must develop, as well reform, invest and give greater power to the World Health Organisation to protect the world from disease.

As citizens of the world we depend on one another. We are linked by trade and migration and the fact of our humanity as much as we are sometimes divided by politics and faith.

Consider this. Maria Branyas is a 113 year old COVID 19 survivor from Spain. It means she has lived through the flu pandemic of 1918-19, the two World Wars, the 1936-39 Spanish Civil War and now the coronavirus. When asked what was the secret of her long life, she said, “good health”.

In a post-Covid-19 world, global health must be seen as a key component of national and global security as well as of the global economy.

SDG 3 must become pivotal in our post COVID 19 response or we may be sitting ducks, when another pandemic strikes, whose velocity and virulence could surpass what we are witnessing now.

Siddharth Chatterjee is the United Nations Resident Coordinator to Kenya. He has served in various parts of the world with UNFPA, UNICEF, UNDP, UNOPS, UN Peacekeeping and the Red Cross Movement. Follow him on twitter-@sidchat1

This OPED was originally published in Forbes Africa.

The post Without Universal Health Coverage We Are Sitting Ducks When the next Pandemic Strikes appeared first on Inter Press Service.

In order to cope with negative effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on the agri-food sector, member states have reiterated their call for additional measures which, however, are not in the European Commission's pipeline.

Welcome to EURACTIV’s Digital Brief, your weekly update on all things digital in the EU. You can subscribe to the newsletter here.    “The largest possible participation of EU citizens is necessary to exploit the full potential of tracing apps.”   – ...

Kurzarbeit und die rasant ansteigende Arbeitslosenquote dämpfen die Ausgabefreudigkeit der Schweizer. Dabei ist der private Konsum zusammen mit den Exporten ein entscheidender Treiber der Schweizer Wirtschaft.