Welcome to the United Nations
The Covid-19 pandemic has brought a crisis of unprecedented significance to people’s health, jobs and lives globally. Governments must take extraordinary and radical measures to overcome the emergency and to lay the groundwork for the recovery. A piecemeal approach clearly does not fit the purpose. On the contrary, systemic change based on interlinked and complementary policies at social, economic and environmental level is the way forward.
The United Nation Secretary-General, in his latest report on the Covid-19 pandemic, stated that “the SDGs could have put us on track towards a world with access to universal health coverage and quality health care and more inclusive and sustainable economies”. While the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) will be severely challenged by the crisis, it is also very clear that multilateralism and the SDGs of the 2030 Agenda are more relevant today than ever. The SDGs provide the vision and show the path towards resilient economies and inclusive societies, and any recovery measures and investments should be in line with the SDGs to fight poverty, unemployment and to enhance sustainability.
The Covid-19 pandemic is also bluntly showing the key role of SDG 8 – decent work and economic growth – within the 2030 Agenda. SDG 8 is the most wide-ranging response measure, as it contains targets on decent work, occupational health and safety, social protection, inclusive economic growth, equitable distribution of wealth and environmental preservation.
The hugely insufficient coverage of social protection, for example, requires that governments provide urgent multilateral responses such as a Global Fund on Social Protection to respond to both humanitarian and recovery needs for the most disadvantaged countries. Around $35 billion would secure five-year funding for the poorest 28 countries in the world to secure emergency relief now and build resilience over time to enable capacity to weather the next crisis, with every dollar beyond that as part-funding for lower- to middle-income countries in dire need. $100 billion is affordable in the context of the $10 trillion or possibly more that will be spent on emergency measures.
Covid-19 pandemic recovery and reconstruction require that governments respond with specific measures for decent work and inclusive growth. These measures cannot happen without workers’ and employers’ organisations (social partners) involvement and support. Resilience can only be built on social dialogue, which goes a long way in crafting equitable policies and to rebuilding a new social contract between governments, employers and workers.
