Social Structures
Author: Irene Spigno, General Director of the Inter-American Academy of Human Rights-Autonomous University of Coahuila
On December 10, 1948, the General Assembly of the United Nations, with Resolution 217 A (III), proclaimed the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).
The Declaration is a landmark document in the history of human rights: for the first time, fundamental human rights were enshrined in a written document.
Drawn up by representatives of all regions of the world with different legal and cultural backgrounds, the Declaration was proclaimed as a common ideal for all peoples and nations.
It was translated into more than 500 languages and has generated a cultural, normative, and institutional revolution at the international, regional and national levels. The UDHR was also followed by a number of binding documents that ensure the protection of human rights.
Today, on December 10, 2020, we are celebrating its 72nd anniversary. However, this celebration is carried out with some bitterness. The progress that we have achieved as an international community in these seven decades is undeniable. However, the still very high numbers of serious human rights violations, wars and episodes of violence that occur worldwide show us that we live in realities far from the ideal reflected in the international law system.
2020 has been a very complicated year for all of us and, even more so, for human rights due to the health contingency generated by Covid-19. Before the Covid-19 outbreak, human rights progress was undeniable but also uneven. The proportion of children and young people who did not attend school, and the incidence of many infectious diseases decreased, access to water, safe management, and women’s representation in leadership roles increased. Simultaneously, the number of people suffering from food insecurity increased, the natural environment continued to deteriorate at an alarming rate, and drastic levels of inequality persisted in all regions. Change was not yet taking place at the necessary pace or scale, and more focused attention was needed in many areas.
The coronavirus’s precipitous spread quickly turned a public health emergency into one of the worst global human rights crises, affecting the pursuit of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 UN Agenda, where human rights play a leading role since its launch in 2015. SDGs have an ambitious goal: to “ending poverty and set the world on the path of peace, prosperity, and opportunities for all on a healthy planet” (conditions without which human rights are of little use).
This goal demands nothing less than a “transformation of the financial, economic, and political systems that govern our societies today to guarantee human rights for all.” SDGs require immense political will and ambitious action on the part of all parties involved. However, global efforts to date have been insufficient to bring about the change we need, jeopardizing the promise of the Agenda to current and future generations.
The pandemic abruptly interrupted the implementation of many of the SDGs and, in some cases, led to a rollback of decades of progress. The crisis has affected all segments of the population, all sectors of the economy, and all parts of the world. Not surprisingly, it hits the poorest and most vulnerable people the hardest around the world. It has exposed the grave and profound inequalities in our societies and is further aggravating already existing disparities and discriminations within and between countries.
Projections indicate that the pandemic will push several million people back into extreme poverty. Some 1.6 billion people – half of the world’s workforce – support themselves and their families through insecure and often risky jobs in the informal economy and have been significantly affected. The effects of COVID-19 are also worsening the world’s 1 billion slum dwellers’ vulnerability, who already have to live in inadequate housing with limited or no access to basic infrastructure and fundamental services.
Older people, people with disabilities, migrants, and refugees are more likely to suffer the severe effects of COVID-19 due to their specific health and socioeconomic circumstances.
Likewise, the pandemic is affecting women and children around the world. Disruption and barriers to health care systems and limited access to food and nutrition services could increase maternal and children under five years of age deaths.
In many countries, there has been an increase in domestic violence against women and children data. 90% of students were unable to attend class due to school closings. Long-term absence from school results in a decrease in retention and graduation rates and affects learning outcomes. It also hurts the social and behavioral development of children and young people. As the number of families falling into extreme poverty increases, children in poor and disadvantaged communities are exposed to a much greater risk of child labor, child marriage, and child trafficking. Unfortunately, positive results in reducing child labor globally will be reversed for the first time in 20 years.
The crisis is producing life-altering consequences for millions of people, mainly children and young people around the globe. The economic effects of the crisis are equally problematic: the world is now facing its worst recession in generations. Although the most advanced and developed countries are struggling to handle with the health, social and economic consequences of the pandemic, the poorest and most disadvantaged will inevitably be suffering much more. Many of the poorest countries are already experiencing severe food insecurity. All these internal crises, together with the loss of jobs, the instability of health care systems, the deficiency of fundamental services, and the low coverage of social protection systems, have exacerbated their condition of vulnerability.
A renewed effort of the whole international community is necessary today more than yesterday, this new crisis could further destabilize the most vulnerable communities and already impoverished countries. Such an effort is vital to avoid that the common ideal on which the UDHR was proclaimed 72 years ago would be just a dead letter.