Volume 6 (No 1-2)
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Browsing Volume 6 (No 1-2) by Subject "COVID-19 pandemic"
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ItemCOVID-19 highlights need for feminist human rights approach to ensure socio-economic gender equality(Global Campus Human Rights, 2022) Ocana Noriega, GemaEconomics and human rights have never been close friends. Human rights advocates have rarely engaged with financial systems. Economists, in turn, seldom consider human rights principles. However, COVID-19 intensified the need for mutual cooperation to safeguard the most disadvantaged, particularly women, who have suffered disproportionate negative socio-economic impact from the pandemic, which accentuated female overrepresentation in frontline health and public sector employment as well as unpaid caring responsibilities. This article examines a series of UN reports and other research which contend that inherent economic gender bias and neoliberal financial austerity policies unduly damage women’s socio-economic rights. It recommends that human rights principles be combined with comprehensive feminist economic analysis in order to achieve gender equality and afford women more financial security in preparation for future crises.
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ItemCOVID-19 must accelerate African push for universal healthcare(Global Campus Human Rights, 2022) Mayamba, Johnson“The greatest injustice is the lack of access to equitable healthcare” Dr Martin Luther King Jr. In a bid to achieve equitable healthcare in Africa, a total of 46 African states met in Abuja, Nigeria, in 2001. In what came to be known as the Abuja Declaration, each African state pledged to commit 15 percent of public expenditure to health. More than two decades since the Declaration was signed, only two African countries have reached this target, leaving vast swathes of the continent vulnerable to emerging health crises such as Ebola and COVID-19. Poor response and management is exacerbated by unpreparedness due to lack of research and under-developed infrastructure. Limited healthcare funding has also led to other challenges such as exploitation of patients, especially by private health providers, who see public health crises as money-making opportunities. Unfortunately, even those entrusted with managing public funds dedicated to the response and management of these crises have resorted to corruption. Whilst we tentatively celebrate having finally survived COVID-19, Africa needs to learn lessons from its past and plan for a better future. Firstly, by increasing government funding towards the health sector and secondly by addressing other still-existing challenges to equitable healthcare. This article recommends building resilient healthcare systems; adopting individual and group participation in decision-making processes; and ensuring there is Universal Health Coverage. All these must start with political will and good leadership.
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ItemEditorial(Global Campus of Human Rights, 2022) Altafin, Chiara ; Vyas, Ravi PrakashThis is the eleventh issue of the Global Campus Human Rights Journal. It consists of eight articles resulting from a special cooperation with the GC Human Rights Preparedness Blog which has provided a valuable platform for innovative and inclusive conversations within the Global Campus network and beyond. In this regard, this blog generally invites contributors to explain the ways in which protecting, respecting and fulfilling human rights is vital in meeting the challenges of pandemics and other emergencies, or to imagine how human rights could be better prepared for such challenges in view of where, how and why human rights have failed or done less well than anticipated. Seven articles are based on shorter contributions previously published by Global Campus alumni acting as regional correspondents for the aforementioned blog after having been trained by Rosie Cowan, a member of the blog editorial team. The eighth article is written by the lead editor of the blog. All these articles provide insights into different topics from a rights-based approach taking into account that there are lessons to be learned from the past and preparations that can be made for the future.