In a year that marked the pandemic of the coronavirus today, with its millions of infections and more than a million deaths and the tremendous socio-economic impact it has, there is also good news, starting with the solidarity that has emerged in times of crisis such as the present. they have been repeated all over the world.
One consequence of the pandemic is that the vast majority of children were temporarily left without a classroom. For this reason, says Alberto Casado, Director of Aid in Action Campaigns, “2020 has helped us place a lot more importance on education, especially in emergencies like the one we face today.” “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 divide in education,” he says.
“COVID-19 has emphasized the importance in terms of public health of the work of health professionals in the community and severe acute malnutrition is considered a priority disease to be treated at the community level, something of Action Against We have been working on hunger since 2014”, emphasizes the coordinator of the NGO project on this issue, Pilar Charle.
Severe acute malnutrition kills more than 3 million children under the age of 5 every year. Hence, ACH’s commitment to educating health professionals so that they can diagnose and treat this disease in their own communities. In the Sahel alone, the NGO has managed to reach 450 communities between 2019 and 2020 and, thanks to them, provide care for more than 4,000 children. “The work of these health agents has resulted in fewer families giving up treatment and therefore making it possible to save the lives of children in the community,” Charle celebrates.
Regardless of the pandemic, there is good news in the health field this year. The first, the declaration of the eradication of polio in Africa on Aug. 25, and second, that the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has ended the two Ebola outbreaks it faced.
This is undoubtedly one of the good news stories of the year for Doctors Without Borders (MSF). The outbreak in North Kivu, South Kivu and Ituri ended on June 25. Luis Encinas, an MSF Ebola expert, explains that one of the main challenges has been to gain community trust in an area where Ebola has never occurred, where there are ongoing conflicts and a large number of displaced people.
That’s why MSF chose not only to fight Ebola, but also to support primary care in health centers and hospitals in the region, as well as massive vaccination campaigns against other diseases, such as measles, which in less than a year had doubled the fatalities. demanded than with Ebola itself. “The Ecuadorian region, promulgated on June 1, lasted barely five months. With the lesson learned, says Encinas, MSF opted for its Congolese workers and small medical structures for better community acceptance.
SUDAN PROHIBITS GENITAL POLLUTION
From World Vision Spain, the director, Javier Ruiz, celebrates that Sudan has joined the countries that banned female genital mutilation in May. “It is an important starting point to end a tradition based on false rites and beliefs,” he stresses, betting that he is now running information and awareness campaigns.
“ In addition to applying the legislation and ensuring its compliance, it is necessary to empower girls and women; provide economic support and incentives to them and their families; change attitudes and beliefs through the mobilization of families and communities, including leaders, and the provision of response and support services. Ending ablation requires mutually reinforcing work in all of these areas, ”Ruiz emphasizes.
As a step forward for the comprehensive protection of girls and adolescents in the Dominican Republic, Save the Children highlights the unanimous vote in the Chamber of Deputies to lift the dispensations allowing child marriage in the country’s civil code.
“We ask that this legal move be accompanied by a government policy to eliminate and prevent this problem, and especially with actions aimed at helping and socially reintegrate girls and adolescents,” said Michela Ranieri, foreign policy expert. at Save the Children.
In the field of human rights, Amnesty International welcomes, among other things, Somalia’s decision to establish a prosecutor’s office charged with crimes against journalists, the extension for another two years of the fact-finding mission to Venezuela after charging that the government of Nicolás Maduro have committed crimes against humanity, or that the government in Denmark has approved the reform of the criminal code to include unauthorized sex as rape.
ARGENTINA LEGALIZES ABORTION
In addition, the organization emphasizes, the year ends with Argentina on the verge of legalizing abortion, after the Chamber of Deputies approved the voluntary termination of pregnancy bill that the Senate is due to ratify on Dec. 29. Amnesty International says the Senate cannot “turn its back on Argentine women” as “legal abortion is a prerequisite for social justice, reproductive justice and human rights”.
Following on from Argentina, another good news for Oxfam Intermón of 2020 is that the government of Alberto Fernández has approved a tax on large fortunes with which it hopes to raise money to deal with the consequences of the pandemic. According to the NGO, such a tax would allow Latin American governments to raise up to $ 14.2 billion in a region where inequality persists. “The great fortunes owe a huge debt to our societies and it is high time they paid their fair share,” said Oxfam.
The NGO also appreciates the fact that the G-20 has agreed to a moratorium on the payment of bilateral external debt for the poorest countries. For example, 46 of them were able to spend 5.7 billion dollars to combat the pandemic and its consequences. But “the measure falls short, first because it is a moratorium and not final forgiveness, so the savings are temporary, and second because private creditors have not suspended or forgiven a cent.”
The year ending has also been a year of mobilization. “The protests triggered by the death at the hands of George Floyd Police have been inspiring as they have sparked a movement and transformation in the United States in the field of racial justice,” emphasizes the deputy director of this country’s program. Human Rights Watch (HRW), Laura Pitter.
“People are aware of the way laws and policies have been used to perpetuate inequalities, not only in the areas of police and criminal justice, but also in access to education, housing, health care and opportunities. impacts the ability to acquire wealth, “he explains.” It will take some time for this movement to bring about real change, but it looks like something has really changed, “he adds.
There have also been demonstrations in Belarus in which, Rachel Denber, HRW deputy director for Europe, recalled, women have played a leading role. “Women used to be barely visible on the political scene” and the president, Alexander Lukashenko, was “condescending towards female leadership”. However, it was a “triumvirate” of women who led the opposition in the August elections and it is they who “still lead many peaceful and creative protests,” he says.