Out of Time: COVID-19 Aftershocks

|by

|, |, ||,

Millions of parents and caregivers have lost incomes and jobs due to COVID-19, forcing them to expose their children to harmful and dangerous circumstances such as begging or child marriage. World Vision has conducted rapid assessments in 24 countries across Latin America, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Asia confirming alarming predictions of increased child hunger, violence, and poverty due to the economic impact of COVID-19.These assessment results give further evidence that the most vulnerable families and their…

Read more

Human rights, the environment and COVID-19: Key Messages

|by and

||||

The COVID-19 crisis reveals a clear truth about catastrophic risk in an increasingly globalized world: an effective response requires immediate, ambitious and evidence-based preventive action at the international level. To avert future global threats, including pandemics, we must protect rights to a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment upon which we all depend for our health and wellbeing. A human rights-based approach to the COVID-19 crisis is also needed to address its unequal impacts on…

Read more

Reopening schools too early could spread COVID-19 even faster – especially in the developing world

|by and

||, ||

Low-income countries face a very different set of circumstances to high-income countries when it comes to reopening schools after lockdown. In developing countries, adults and the elderly generally have more contact with children than those in advanced economies. A new study predicts that delaying school openings could save lives.   Read more

Read more

The Evolution of Human Trafficking During the COVID-19 Pandemic

|by

, ||||

The COVID-19 pandemic has devastated human lives, the global economy, and educational systems. Given the enormous financial hardship on families, the mass movement of people, and the closing of schools, the risks of human trafficking have increased. In this environment, multidisciplinary interventions coupled with innovation, technology, and entrepreneurial thinking must remain a priority. This post is part of the Council on Foreign Relations’ blog series on human trafficking, in which CFR fellows and other leading experts assess new approaches…

Read more

The COVID-19 pandemic and children 5 months on

|by

||, ||

The UN Secretary-General has warned that, while not being “the face” of the pandemic, children could be its “biggest victims.” Indeed, what until last year was pictured as a promising “Decade of delivery” now risks turning into a “lost decade” for development. As things stand now, the pandemic could not only halt, but even reverse progress towards the 2030 Agenda. We are just beginning to understand more clearly what the potential impact of COVID-19 on…

Read more

Comparative strategic approaches to COVID-19 in Africa: Balancing public interest with civil liberties

|by

|, |||

As COVID-19 spreads rapidly across Africa, causing havoc to economies and disruption to already fragile healthcare systems, it is becoming clear that despite standardised global health strategies, national and local government responses must be tailored to their individual settings. Some African countries have adopted stringent measures such as national lockdown, quarantine or isolation, in combination with good hand hygiene, mandatory wearing of masks and physical distancing, to prevent an impending healthcare crisis. The impact of…

Read more

COVID-19: Youth and education: Impacts and options

|by

||||

Even before COVID-19, the world was facing an educational crisis highlighted by the difficulties in achieving SDG4. According to the World Bank, around 53% of young people in low-and middle-income countries live in “learning poverty”. The closure of schools, a measure taken everywhere in many countries to facilitate ‘physical distancing’ and reduce the risk of contamination, is likely to worsen this crisis in the coming times and make it impossible to reach the goal of…

Read more

COVID-19: Are children able to continue learning during school closures?

|by

||||

In response to the unprecedented educational challenges created by school closures due to the COVID-19 pandemic, more than 90 per cent of countries have implemented some form of remote learning policy. This factsheet estimates the potential reach of digital and broadcast remote learning responses, finding that at least 463 million students around the globe remain cut off from education, mainly due to a lack of remote learning policies or lack of equipment needed for learning at…

Read more

Although it’s dangerous, we need to survive

|by

||||

Burundian refugees in Nakivale Refugee Settlement in Uganda are enacting grassroots responses to COVID-19.   Read more

Read more

Protecting Forcibly Displaced Children during the COVID-19 Pandemic

|by

|, |||

Children face three dangers during the COVID-19 pandemic: 1) infection with the virus; 2) the immediate impacts of measures to stop transmission of the virus (school closures for example); and 3) the long-term impact of the resulting economic crisison social and economic development with regard to the Sustainable Development Goals. Their impact on children will vary based on their age, gender, vulnerability, health, disability, family situation and the wide-ranging, dynamic conditions of their environment. This…

Read more