Global Social Justice

All roads lead to universal health coverage

Details: Written by T.A. Ghebreyesus / D-G WHO; Category: Articles; Created: 17 August 2017

All roads lead to universal health coverage—and this is our top priority at WHO. For me, the key question of universal health coverage is an ethical one. Do we want our fellow citizens to die because they are poor? Or millions of families impoverished by catastrophic health expenditures because they lack financial risk protection? Universal health coverage is a human right.

At least 400 million people have no access to essential health services,¹ and 40% of the world's population lack social protection.² Think about the human reality behind these numbers: the young mother who dies in childbirth in a fragile state because she lacks access to health care; a young child dropping out of school due to family impoverishment caused by health expenses; and an adult living in inner city of a middle-income country suffering from chronic non-communicable diseases and not getting treatment.

The very very slow death of neoliberalism

Details: Written by Francine Mestrum; Category: Articles; Created: 16 August 2017

On the IMF evaluation report on the institution’s approach to social protection

For many years now, neoliberalism has been declared dead. The report of the Independent Evaluation Office (IEO) of the IMF on the institution’s approach to social protection shows this is far from true. And it does not look as if human rights, universalism and redistribution are going to be part of the IMF-agenda soon.

What kind of industry policy do we need?

Details: Written by South Center; Category: Articles; Created: 15 August 2017

The South Centre is pleased to announce the publication of Policy Brief No. 44 entitled "Industrialization, inequality and sustainability: What kind of industry policy do we need?" by Manuel F. Montes, Senior Advisor on Finance and Development of the South Centre.

The 2030 Agenda includes as Sustainable Development Goal 9 (SDG 9) the commitment to “build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation”. The entry of this goal into the 2030 Agenda is an achievement for developing countries who have a very diverse situation in terms of population sizes, per capita incomes, economic sizes and structures, political systems, cultures but share the common feature of an underdeveloped industrial sector.Therefore, in order to implement SDG 9 pro-active industry policies are needed that take into account aspects of inequality and sustainability.

Reforming the UN? Here's a great idea!

Details: Written by Lansana Gberi / Pambazuka; Category: Articles; Created: 12 August 2017

A review of Michael von der Schulenburg’s 'On Building Peace: Rescuing the Nation State and Saving the United Nations.' Amsterdam University Press, 2017; 276 pages.

Schulenburg has provided a blueprint that is both original and far more attractive and coherent than any of the recommendations of the many reviews of peacekeeping authorised by the UN Secretariat for the past 15 to 20 years.

Debates on reforming the United Nations almost always focus on the Security Council, whose permanent membership, it is generally agreed, no longer reflects global geopolitical realities, and should therefore be expanded to include more representation, including from Africa and Latin America. In this provocative book, Michael von der Schulenburg, a UN veteran, argues, somewhat counter-intuitively, that this approach should be abandoned, because it is unrealistic to expect that the Council’s unrepresentative members with their prized veto power will accept a dilution of their privilege, which would be the result of greater diversity. He instead advocates two deceptively simple but very thoughtful (and possibly controversial) approaches: expand the UN Charter to include an explicit mandate to intervene in intrastate conflicts; and transform the currently ineffective and sidelined UN Peacebuilding Commission, set up in 2005, to be the “governing council for all UN peace operations” involving intrastate conflicts. His reasoning, rooted in decades of experience leading or helping to manage complex UN missions in Afghanistan, Haiti, Pakistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria, Somalia and Sierra Leone, is unassailable.

Too many private public partnerships go wrong

Details: Written by Roberto Bissio / Social Watch; Category: Articles; Created: 07 August 2017

Mr. Roberto Bissio, coordinator of Social Watch, demanded the need to better define the different roles of different stakeholders and the rules that bind them. There are regrettably too many examples of public-private-partnerships that went wrong.
In 2013 the World Bank's IFC published the report "Investing in Women's Employment: Good for Business, Good for Development" to highlight WINvest (Investing in Women), the World Bank Group's Global Partnership initiative with the private sector on women's employment.

Implementing the Addis Ababa Action Agenda: The 2017 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-up

Details: Written by UN ECOSOC; Category: Articles; Created: 02 August 2017

The publication builds on the Summary by the President of the Economic and Social Council of the forum on financing for development follow-up (A/72/114–E/2017/75) held in New York on 22-25 May 2017. It also provides more detailed coverage of the ministerial and expert segments of the forum, as well as summaries of the side events held during the forum.

Read the report

The Financial Crisis and the Global South: Impact and Prospects

Details: Written by Yilmaz Akyüz / South Center; Category: Articles; Created: 02 August 2017

The South Centre is pleased to announce the publication of Policy Brief No. 43 entitled "The Financial Crisis and the Global South: Impact and Prospects" by Yılmaz Akyüz, Chief Economist, and Vicente Paolo B. Yu III, Deputy Executive Director, of the South Centre.

The world economy has not still recovered from the effects of the financial crisis that began almost a decade ago first in the US and then in Europe. Policy response to the crisis, the combination of fiscal restraint and ultra-easy monetary policy, has not only failed to bring about a robust recovery but has also aggravated systemic problems in the global economy, notably inequality and chronic demand gap, on the one hand, and financial fragility, on the other. It has generated strong destabilizing spillovers to the Global South. Major emerging economies that were expected a few years ago to become global locomotives have not only lost their momentum, but have also become highly vulnerable to trade and financial shocks. Policies proposed by the new administration in the US could entail a double blow to emerging and developing economies which have become highly dependent on foreign markets, capital and transnational corporations. The EU remains a global deadweight, generating deflationary impulses for the rest of the world economy. The jury is still out on whether the second largest economy, China, will be able to avoid financial turmoil and growth collapse. This state of affairs raises serious policy challenges to the Global South in responding to external shocks and redesigning the pace and pattern of their integration into the global economy so as to benefit from the opportunities that a broader economic space may offer while minimizing the potential risks it may entail.

To access the policy brief directly, go to this webpage: https://www.southcentre.int/policy-brief-43-august-2017/

The IMF and Social Protection

Details: Written by Francine Mestrum; Category: Articles; Created: 29 July 2017

Interesting report of the Independent Evaluation Office of the IMF on actions concerning social protection.

Three important points need to be mentioned: first, the report does not cover what it calls ‘long term poverty reduction measures’ such as health and education; secondly, while questions may arise on whether social protection falls under the mandate of the IMF, the report confirms it is part of macro-economic stability. The IMF should ‘avoid excessive stress on vulnerable people’. Thirdly and most importantly, the IEO points to a possible conflict with the World Bank which has signed a joined statement with the ILO on the universalism of social protection, based on the fact it is a human right. While cooperation with the World Bank has been smooth (contrary to work with the ILO and UNICEF …), this may change if the World Bank moves indeed towards a rights-based approach and universalism.

A full analysis of the report will follow soon

Read the report

European Cities are Reclaiming Public Services from Private Sector

Details: Written by Alexis Chemblette; Category: Articles; Created: 27 July 2017

Learning from people powered movements

In the '80s a neoliberal tide swept across the West with the idea that welfares states had become too expensive and that privatizing public goods was better for stimulating the economy. During this era of fiscal conservatism, Western governments basically confined themselves supervisory roles over the economy, reduced to watchdogs enforcing norms and standards. But research has shown that as the government progressively pulls out of public life, many people lose access or experience the deterioration of services that improve their quality of life such as affordable housing, education, public transportation and health care.

Health Care is not a comodity but a public good

Details: Written by Sandra Vermuyten / IPS; Category: Articles; Created: 26 July 2017

We need social protection systems that are based on solidarity, sharing of risks, and built on collective bargaining and social dialogue, democratic structures and long-term strategies to combat poverty and address inequalities and inequity. Universal social protection is essential to achieve gender equality and there is a strong link between the provision of public services and the ability of women to enter the labour market, to address unpaid care work responsibilities and to ensure that children have access to health and social services.

Globalisation: the Rise and Fall of an Idea that Swept the World

Details: Written by Nikil Saval / The Guardian; Category: Articles; Created: 24 July 2017

The annual January gathering of the World Economic Forum in Davos is usually a placid affair: a place for well-heeled participants to exchange notes on global business opportunities, or powder conditions on the local ski slopes, while cradling champagne and canapes. This January, the ultra-rich and the sparkling wine returned, but by all reports the mood was one of anxiety, defensiveness and self-reproach.

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