BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WITH the COVID-19 pandemic still impacting the world, United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres has highlighted the severity it has on all facets of life.
From increases in domestic violence and free-falling economies to further indebtedness were some of the challenges outlined by Guterres, as he addressed the opening of the Ministerial segment of the High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development.
In underscoring the troubling effects of the pandemic, the SG noted that by February of this year, 36 low-income countries were either in sovereign debt distress or at a high risk of falling into such.
Many nations, including those around the region, severely felt the blow of the pandemic when many of them closed their borders and instituted lockdowns to stem the spread of the virus, bringing a halt to business and economic activities.
As a result, an equivalent of 255 million full-time jobs were lost in working hours – about four times the number lost in 2007–2009 - the period of the global financial crisis.
It has also resulted in a further 124 million people being pushed into extreme poverty - further compounding the drive to achieve the various Sustainable Development Goals.
Guterres charged that during 2020, nearly one person in three around the world could not access adequate food; an increase of nearly 320 million people in one year.
He stated that violence against women rose to shocking levels, with some reports doubling and tripling in some places; and that an added burden of unpaid domestic and care work is squeezing women out of the labor force.
The SG further stated that compounding all of the challenges facing the world, Gross Domestic Products on average across the globe was by an estimated 4.6 percent in 2020.
