In a year in which the coronavirus pandemic has marked itself today, with its millions of infections and over a million deaths and the enormous socio-economic impact it has, there has been some good news, starting with the solidarity that in a moment of crisis like the present, they have been repeated all over the world.
One of the consequences of the pandemic is that the vast majority of children have been temporarily left without classes. For this reason, says the director of Aid in Action campaigns, Alberto Casado, “2020 has helped us give much more importance to education, especially in emergencies like the one we are experiencing.” “We need to promote the school as a resilient space, recognize the work of teachers and respond to global challenges, such as reconciliation or the need to reduce the digital educational gap,” he said.
“COVID-19 highlighted the public health importance of the work of Community health workers, and severe acute malnutrition has come to be considered a priority disease to be treated at Community level, which in Acción contra el We are working on hunger since 2014 “, Emphasizes the coordinator of the NGO project on this topic, Pilar Charle.
Severe acute malnutrition kills more than 3 million children under the age of 5 each year, hence ACH’s commitment to training health workers so that they can diagnose and treat the disease in their own community. In the Sahel alone, the NGO managed to reach 450 communities between 2019 and 2020, providing care to over 4,000 children thanks to them. “The work of these health workers has meant that fewer families have abandoned treatment and, as a result, made it possible to save the lives of children in the community,” says Charle.
Regardless of the pandemic, there has been good health news this year. First, the statement on the eradication of polio in Africa on 25 August and, secondly, that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has put an end to the two outbreaks of Ebola it is facing.
This is undoubtedly one of the good news of the year for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The outbreak that affected North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri ended on June 25. As Luis Encinas, an MSF Ebola expert, explains, one of the main challenges has been to gain the trust of communities, in an area where Ebola has never happened before, where there is a persistent conflict and a large number of displaced people.
Therefore, in addition to fighting Ebola, MSF has opted to support primary care services in health centers and hospitals in the region, as well as mass vaccination campaigns against other diseases, such as measles, which in less than a year has claimed twice the number of deaths than Ebola itself. “The one in the region of Ecuador, decreed on June 1, lasted only five months. With the lesson learned, Encinas points out, MSF opted for Congolese workers and its small structures, medically, for a better acceptance of the community.
SUDAN PROHIBITS GENITAL MUTILATION
From World Vision Spain, its director, Javier Ruiz, celebrates that Sudan has joined the countries that banned female genital mutilation in May. “It is an important starting point for ending a tradition based on false rites and beliefs,” he said, betting on ongoing information and awareness campaigns.
“In addition to enforcing the law and ensuring its compliance, it is necessary to empower girls and women; providing financial support and incentives for them and their families; changing attitudes and beliefs by mobilizing families and communities, including leaders, and providing response and support services. The cessation of ablation requires mutual consolidation works in all these areas “, Ruiz underlines.
Save the Children highlights as a step forward for the comprehensive protection of girls and adolescents in the Dominican Republic the unanimous vote in the Chamber of Deputies to eliminate exemptions that allow children to marry in the country’s Civil Code.
“We demand that this legal step be accompanied by public policies to eliminate and prevent this problem and, especially, by actions aimed at assisting and social reintegration of girls and adolescents,” says Michela Ranieri, foreign policy expert at Save the Children.
On human rights, Amnesty International welcomes, among other things, Somalia’s decision to set up a prosecutor’s office responsible for crimes against journalists, extending the investigative mission to Venezuela for another two years after denouncing that the government of Nicolás Maduro could who committed crimes against humanity or that in Denmark the government agreed to reform the Criminal Code to include that sex without consent is rape.
ARGENTINA LEGALIZES ABORTION
In addition, the organization points out, the year ends with Argentina on the verge of legalizing abortion, after the Chamber of Deputies approves the bill for voluntary termination of pregnancy, which must be ratified by the Senate on December 29. Amnesty says the Senate cannot “turn its back” on Argentine women because “legal abortion is an imperative of social justice, reproductive justice and human rights.”
Continuing in Argentina, for Oxfam Intermón, another good news from 2020 was that the Government of Alberto Fernández approved a tax on large fortunes with which it hopes to raise funds to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. According to the NGO, Latin American governments could raise up to $ 14.2 billion due to such a tax in a region where inequality persists. “Great fortunes owe a huge debt to our societies and it is time to pay their fair share,” says Oxfam.
The NGO also appreciates the fact that the G-20 has agreed on a moratorium on bilateral external debt payments for the poorest countries. Thus, 46 of them managed to redirect $ 5.7 billion to combat the pandemic and its consequences. However, “the measure is short, firstly because it is a suspension of payments and not a permanent pardon, so the savings are temporary and, secondly, because private creditors have not suspended or forgave any money”.
The year ending was also a year of mobilizations. “The protests sparked by the death of police officer George Floyd were inspiring because they sparked a movement and transformation in the United States on racial justice,” said Laura Pitter, deputy director of Human Rights Watch (HRW).
“People are waking up to the way laws and policies have been used to perpetuate inequalities, not only in policing and criminal justice, but also in access to education, housing, health and opportunities. of employment, which affects the ability to accumulate wealth, “he explains.” It will take some time for this movement to generate real change, but it seems that something has really changed, “he added.
There were also demonstrations in Belarus in which, as Rachel Denber, HRW’s deputy director for Europe, recalls, women played a leading role. “Before, women were hardly visible on the political scene,” and President Alexander Lukashenko was “patron of women’s leadership.” However, it was a “triumvirate” of women that led the opposition to the August elections and they are the ones who “continue to lead many peaceful and creative protests,” he says.