UN Chief Calls for ‘Paradigm Shift’ to Recover from COVID Setbacks

Addis Ababa April 13/2021 (ENA)  United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres has called for ‘paradigm shift’ to recover from COVID setbacks.

The UN chief said on Monday, addressing the Financing for Development (FfD) Forum a “paradigm shift” aligning the private sector with the global goals is needed to address the challenges of the future, including those triggered by COVID-19.  

The secretary-general painted a grim picture of the past year during which more than three million have died from the virus. Around 120 million have fallen into extreme poverty and equivalents of 255 million full-time jobs have been lost. 

 Noting that “the crisis is far from over” as the speed of infections is increasing, Guterres said “an enormous push at the highest political level” is needed to reverse these dangerous trends, prevent successive waves of infection, avoid a lengthy global recession and get back on track to fulfill the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the 2015 Paris Agreement on climate change.

Advancing an equitable global response to recover from the pandemic is “putting multilateralism to the test”, the UN chief said, adding, “so far, we have failed”.

To illustrate this, he pointed out that just 10 countries globally account for around 75 per cent of COVID vaccinations given, noting that some estimates put the global cost of unequal access and vaccine hoarding at more than 9 trillion USD.

He underscored the need for “unity and solidarity” to save lives and prevent catastrophic debt and dysfunction.

He further called for development assistance to go primarily where it is most needed, adding that Guterres stressed the need for equitable access to vaccines for everyone to end COVID-19 epidemic.

He stated that the debt crisis needed to be properly addressed including debt suspension, relief, and liquidity. 

“But we need to go beyond debt relief”, he continued, urging a strengthened “international debt architecture to end the deadly cycles of debt waves, global debt crises and lost decades.” 

Investing in a new social contract, based on solidarity in education, green jobs, social protection, and health systems was the UN chief’s fifth priority action, which he maintained was “the foundation for sustainable and inclusive development”. 

The secretary-general concluded that the forum must provide ambition and momentum, to finance a resilient, inclusive, equitable and sustainable future for all.