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Repository

The topics for discussion on this portal have already been analyzed by multiple actors. In this repository, the GS / OAS brings together some of them, as one more contribution to the discussion. This repository has two sections: In the Policy section, we will integrate information on policies relevant to the issues under discussion that are being implemented by Member States, Observer States and other States of the world. In Studies we will include analyzes, reports and reports published by academic institutions, think tanks, international and multilateral organizations, non-governmental organizations and private entities, all of them of recognized prestige, which are relevant to the conversation. The OAS will publish these articles and reports in their original language.

IOM - Global Diaspora Coalition: Message of Solidarity with Victims of COVID-19 Related Xenophobia, Discrimination

  • 1 July 2020

“Now more than ever, the safety of our society as a whole depends on the effective protection of the most vulnerable. Xenophobia and discrimination undermine our response to the COVID-19 pandemic and efforts to address the socio-economic impacts that disproportionately burden the most vulnerable and marginalized elements of our societies including migrants”, said IOM Director General António Vitorino.

UNCTAD - Coronavirus Will Cost Global Tourism at Least $1.2 Trillion

  • 1 July 2020

The UN’s trade and development body warned that the loss could rise to $2.2 trillion or 2.8% of the world’s GDP if the break in international tourism lasts for eight months, in line with the expected decline in tourism as projected by the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

IDB report envisions devastating tourism shocks to Latin America and the Caribbean

  • 1 July 2020

The report – Extreme Outlier: The Pandemic’s Unprecedented Shock to Tourism in Latin America and the Caribbean – launches a new global Tourism Dependency Index for countries, including 35 Latin American and Caribbean economies. It urges governments to take unprecedented measures to prevent the spread of the virus, and to support citizens and economies through this shock to the most tourism-dependent region in the world. 

UNHCR Issues Recommendations for EU to Ensure Refugee Protection During the Pandemic and Beyond

  • 1 July 2020

As the world continues to combat COVID-19, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling on the German Presidency of the European Union (EU) to keep refugee protection high on the agenda. UNHCR is proposing concrete ways the EU can ensure a bold and robust response to forced displacement during the pandemic as well as long term. The envisaged EU Pact on Migration and Asylum also provides an opportunity for the EU to better protect forcibly displaced people in Europe and abroad, and support host countries.

Timeline of WHO’s Response to COVID-19

  • 30 June 2020

WHO provides this timeline of the Organization’s COVID-19 response activities for general information. WHO will update the timeline on a regular basis and in light of evolving events and new information. Unless noted otherwise, country-specific information and data are as reported to WHO by its Member States.

UNDP - Rule of Law and Human Rights are Key to Forging a New Inclusive Social Contract

  • 30 June 2020

Emphasizing on the urgency of obligations to respect human rights and the rule of law in the current context around COVID-19 pandemic, UNDP Administrator Achim Steiner stated- “It is clear that securing the rule of law and human rights is key to achieving the transformational change we need - based on principles of trust, accountability and justice. This ultimately means forging a new, more inclusive social contract.”

Government of Canada and CDB Establish New Fund to Support Disaster Risk Management

  • 30 June 2020

Governments in nine Caribbean countries will still be able to maintain their disaster risk management efforts even with national finances stretched by the demands of responding to the COVID-19 pandemic.

This is because the Government of Canada has partnered with the Caribbean Development Bank to offer assistance through a new CAD$20 million fund - the Canada-CARICOM Climate Adaptation Fund (CCAF).

PAHO Director Says Timing and Local Planning are Critical to Relax Restrictions for COVID-19

  • 30 June 2020

“Timing is critical. At national or at local level, we must open gradually, taking a phased approach that relies on robust surveillance, data, and expanded testing and contact tracing capacity.  If the situation changes and infections rise, localities and countries must adjust course quickly" Carissa Etienne said.

UN - Pause Before Sharing, to Help Stop Viral Spread of COVID-19 Misinformation

  • 30 June 2020

“One of the ways it [misinformation] is spreading is the way people are sharing”, Melissa Fleming, who oversees the UN’s global communications effort, said on the eve of the Pause campaign’s launch, chosen to coincide with Social Media Day.

“The idea of pause is: take care before you share. We hope that ‘take care before you share’, starts to be a social norm that people have in the back of their heads and that will enable a personal behavior change.”

As Jobs Crisis Deepens, ILO Warns of Uncertain and Incomplete Labour Market Recovery

  • 30 June 2020

The number of working hours lost across the world in the first half of 2020 was significantly worse than previously estimated, while the highly uncertain recovery in the second half of the year will not be enough to go back to pre-pandemic levels, even in the best scenario, and risks seeing continuing large scale job losses, warns the International Labour Organization (ILO).

Global Partners Require $31 Billion to Speed up COVID-19 Medicines for All

  • 26 June 2020

“It’s clear that to bring COVID-19 under control, and to save lives, we need effective vaccines, diagnostics and therapeutics – in unprecedented quantities and at unprecedented speed”, said WHO chief Tedros Adhanom.

More than $31 billion is needed over the next 12 months to develop medicines that will be effective against COVID-19, and make them available to all people, the World Health Organization (WHO) and partners said.

Trinidad and Tobago is one of Fifteen Countries to Benefit from the Government of Canada's USD$5.3 Million Contribution to PAHO’s COVID-19 Response in the Caribbean

  • 26 June 2020

The contribution of USD$5.3 million will benefit a total of fifteen Caribbean countries including Trinidad and Tobago. Overall, the collaboration will support increased access to Personal Protective Equipment and other critical supplies to assist countries in their efforts to save lives and limit the human-to-human transmission of the COVID-19 Pandemic, focusing on populations experiencing marginalization or vulnerability, including health care workers.

UN to Extend Enhanced Support to the National Human Rights Institutions

  • 26 June 2020

“In these challenging times we need to reinforce, support and work in partnership with NHRIs to address COVID-19. We also need to support member states to ‘recover back better’ - to use inclusive approaches in their recovery towards achieving the SDGs and securing the social contract,” stated Asako Okai, UN Assistant Secretary General and Director of UNDP’s Crisis Bureau.

ONU - La crisis COVID-19 amenaza con empujar a más personas al consumo y tráfico de drogas

  • 25 June 2020

La pandemia también ha provocado una escasez de opioides, lo que a su vez puede hacer que las personas busquen sustancias más fácilmente disponibles como el alcohol, los benzodiacepinas o la mezcla con drogas sintéticas. La Oficina alerta que en consecuencia pueden surgir patrones de uso más dañinos a medida que algunos usuarios pueden decidir comenzar a inyectarse, o inyectarse más seguido.

UN - COVID-19’s Far Reaching Impact on Global Drug Abuse

  • 25 June 2020

Because the pandemic has led to highly addictive opioid shortages, people may seek out more readily available substances, including alcohol, sedatives or by using more harmful delivery methods, such as intravenous injection.

UN - COVID-19: Excluding Pople with Disabilities Leaves Them Without Information that Could Save Their Lives

  • 25 June 2020

Reports of some being locked in their rooms, while others have felt totally isolated and abandoned, are some of the examples of discrimination and inequality that those living with disability have experienced.

PAHO - PAHO USAID Donation Fueling COVID-19 Fight

  • 25 June 2020

The Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization (PAHO/WHO) Office for Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean Countries (ECC) and USAID recently assisted the government of Antigua and Barbuda in their fight against COVID-19.

Additionally, as we enter the Hurricane season, the vehicle will also be able to support and respond to other health emergencies and support disease surveillance activities of any new or existing health challenges.

WHO - Coronavirus: 10 Million Infections Milestone Looms – WHO's Tedros

  • 24 June 2020

WHO chief and former health minister of Ethiopia said many countries are finding it difficult to obtain concentrators, as 80 per cent of the market is owned by just a few companies.  Demand is outstripping supply.

To ease shortages, WHO is buying them for countries that need them most, he said, and ongoing talks with suppliers have led to the purchase of 14,000 concentrators, which WHO will send to 120 countries in the coming weeks.  WHO has identified a further 170,000 that can be available over the next six months, at a value of $100 million. 

PAHO - Countries Should Prepare to Manage COVID-19 Closely for the Next 2 Years

  • 24 June 2020

PAHO’s director Carissa Etienne said countries must adjust and coordinate their COVID-19 response based on increasingly detailed data. “Governments will have to make decisions, considering simultaneously health, economic, and social indicators. This will allow health officials to understand where transmission is accelerating, and which groups are at greater risk so as to better target their efforts,” she added.

IMF - A Joint Response for Latin America and the Caribbean to Counter the COVID-19 Crisis

  • 24 June 2020

Within the region, the Caribbean economies are suffering even more due to their high dependence on one of the most dramatically impacted sectors—tourism—which, for some, accounts for 50 to 90 percent of GDP and employment.

Given the scale of the crisis and unprecedented uncertainty, governments have had to also deploy fiscal measures to strengthen the health system, protect the most vulnerable and support employment and otherwise viable businesses.

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