COVID-19 and older people in Asia Pacific: 2020 in review

The report “COVID-19 and older people in Asia Pacific: 2020 in review” published by UNFPA and HelpAge International is a look back at how the pandemic affected older people in Asia Pacific in 2020.

This paper documents some of the key themes that emerged throughout the year and suggests critical gaps that 2021 will urgently need to address. The pandemic has exposed the fine line between highlighting older people’s social vulnerabilities and reinforcing ageist perceptions.

You can download it here.

Attending 1st meeting of the OECD Policy Dialogue on Social Protection and Development: Extending Social Protection to Informal Economy Workers

Members from WSM and INSP!R Asia attended the OECD Development centre policy dialogue on Social Protection and Development 1st meeting of the OECD Policy Dialogue on Social Protection and Development which focused on a central theme  we have been focusing on: extending Social Protection to Informal Economy Workers. The following gives an idea of what was discussed:

Recent  years  have  seen  a  heightened  recognition  of  the  potential  role  of  social  protection  in  the development process. Universal social protection now constitutes an essential component of the global agenda for sustainable development and it features amongst key policy priorities in several regional and national commitments. The current COVID-19 crisis, which is disproportionately affecting the most vulnerable, sadly confirms the centrality of social protection to build more resilient societies.

Yet, the road to universal social protection remains difficult in many countries. A common challenge in developing and emerging countries where informal employment  dominates is to find appropriate modalities  to  expand  social  protection  coverage  in  a  way  that  recognises  the  diversity  of  informal economy  workers  and  provides  them  with  mechanisms  that  are  fair,  efficient  and  sustainable.  As governments intend to build informality-robust social protection systems, another challenge is to make social protection instruments gender-sensitive and gender-transformative. In this context, learning from countries about their  experiences in extending social protection to men and women in the informal economy appears critical.

The aim of this first meeting of the policy dialogue on social protection and development is to provide an  interactive  setting  between  member  countries  of  the  OECD  Development  Centre  and  other stakeholders for an issue-based peer dialogue, experience sharing, mutual learning and the collective production  of  new  knowledge  to  support  the  extension  of  social  protection  to  informal  economy workers. As such, it is an important contribution to the Universal Social Protection Agenda 2030. The dialogue was articulated around the following sessions: 

1. Session 1 looks at the importance of capturing the different social protection needs of informal economy workers; 
2. Section 2 and Session 3 discuss the role of  social  assistance  and  social  insurance  for  informal  economy  workers  in  times  of  COVID-19, respectively; and 
3. the last session addresses the role of innovative financing schemes for informal gig-economy workers.

A  new  OECD  database  –  the  OECD  Key  Indicators  of  Informality  based  on  Individuals  and  their Households  (KIIBIH)  –  relies  on  household  surveys  from  41  countries  to  derive  harmonised  and comparable  indicators  across  countries  related  to  informal  employment  measured  at  the  level  of individuals  and  their  households.  By  covering  both  individuals  and  their  households,  the  database allows  for  a  comprehensive  monitoring  of  informality  that  captures  the  heterogeneity  of  informal economy  workers,  taking  into  account  the  broader  context  of  their  households.  The  household dimension allows to monitor how workers’ vulnerability in the informal economy is passed on to other segments of the population and also enriches our understanding of the different channels through which social protection can reach out to informal workers as part of the formalisation agenda.

Such data suggest that a strategy to extend social protection to informal economy workers may well be articulated around the following three pillars: 

• (i) closing the social protection gap among poor informal economy workers through non-contributory schemes; 
• (ii) extending contributory schemes to non-poor informal workers that have the capacity to contribute; and 
• (iii) creating incentives to levy higher social security   contributions   from   employers   of   wage   workers   and   workers   in   hidden   employment relationships.

Publication on the urgency of climat change actions

Our planet is in danger, and if we do not drastically change our actions, the consequences could be devastating for all humans, including future generations.

It is therefore necessary to put forward a new narrative, one that values solidarity between peoples and is the precursor to mobilising actions. We must abandon the culture of competition that pursues profit at all costs and replace it with the pursuit of the well-being of all, in harmony with nature.

The partner organisations of WSM, ACV-CSC and CM-MC are unions, mutual health organisations and other social movements in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. These organisations, with their strong social base, are levers for sustainable social change because they are already actively responding to the negative impacts of climate change, which primarily affects their communities.

In this brochure we offer you an overview of some of the innovative approaches to change.

Qatar introduces historic reforms to its labour market

In a historic move, the State of Qatar has introduced major changes to its labour market, ending the requirement for migrant workers to obtain their employer’s permission to change jobs, while also becoming the first country in the region to adopt a non-discriminatory minimum wage. 

This new law, coupled with the removal of exit permit requirements earlier in the year, effectively dismantles the controversial “kafala” sponsorship system and marks the beginning of a new era for workers and employers in Qatar. This is an issue WSM partners have been working on for a long time, so definitely a big step forward!

Find out more here. 

Women Power: Gender in India: new documentary

A documentary regarding women power entitled SHAKTHI has just been released regarding gender in India, figuring SWATE, one of  the sister movements of AREDS in Karur. 

Here also in Spanish.

International Day For Older Persons

This 1st of October is 30th anniversary of the United Nations designated day to focus and raise awareness about the well-being and needs of the elderly people. "The world marks the 30th anniversary of the International Day of Older Persons as we reckon with the disproportionate and severe impact that the COVID-19 pandemic has wrought on older persons around the world – not only on their health, but on their rights and well-being." António Guterres, UN Secretary-General has said.

2020 to 2030 is the 'Decade of Healthy Ageing'. Over the next 30 years, the number of older persons worldwide is projected to be more than double, reaching more than 1.5 billion persons. 80% of them will be in low and middle-income countries. Projections indicate that number of 60-plus people in India will increase to 14.3 crore in 2021 and 17.3 crore in 2026.

Since several years, WSM has facilitated exchanges between OKRA and GK regarding elderly, looking at the changing demographics and ageing. This theme and approach have been shared with the Asia partners and now also in other continents. 

For this 1st October 2020, OKRA contributed to having messages from two Belgian ministers here.  GK organized a discussion meeting in Bangladesh, with Sherpur Upazila Health Officer Dr. Happy Hossain. All the workers of the public health center, Sherpur along with the senior people of the area, Executive Director of the Public Health Center, Golam Mostafa Dulal attended the program. In 2018, GK supported public health centers to form 10 ′′senior clubs′′ in different rural areas of Bangladesh. The clubs provide social services with primary healthcare for seniors and helped keep elderly active and involved. 

India: protest by domestic workers

Nationwide protest held by NDWM, NDWF and CFTUI under the National Platform Domestic Workers  to demand National Legislation for Domestic Workers, Cash transfer to the domestic workers affected by Covid crisis and to implement the Urban Employment Guarantee Scheme. 

Memoranda were submitted to the MPs, Labour Ministers in different States, Labour Commissioners and District Collectors. These are images from States of Maharashtra, Bihar, Tamil nadu, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Orissa, Jharkand, Karnataka, Delhi, UP, Kerala, MP and Goa.

The nationwide protests received a lot of media coverage. In a press conference organized in Assisi Auditorium in Dimapur, the NDWM-Nagaland Region laid down four demands for the government. It demanded the recognition of domestic workers as workers, while seeking protection for them against all types of harassment. It also called for social security and access to benefits for the domestic workers and asked the State Government to include domestic workers in the schedule of employment and thus ensuring minimum wages entitlement. “Domestic Workers are essential workers, they are not carriers of diseases, do not discriminate them,” was the NDWM-Nagaland Region’s stand as they joined the nationwide campaign organized by the National domestic workers platform with its 34 unions.

       

    

EU Parliament adopts joint resolution on Philippines

The European Parliament adopted a joint resolution on the situation in the Philippines, including the case of Maria Ressa. Please find the text here. The resolution is a negotiated compromise between all 6 democratic political groups in the European Parliament. 

It highlights among others:

• the space for civil society is shrinking to an increasing extent the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC) Report of 2020, the Philippines is included in the top 10 most dangerous countries in the world for workers;whereas the Philippine trade union movement has complained about the repression of workers’ rights, including through ‘red-tagging’, disappearances and killings of labour leaders and trade unionists;
• Condemns all threats, harassment, intimidation, rape and violence against those who seek to expose allegations of extrajudicial killings and other human rights violations inthe country, including human rights and environmental activists, trade unionists and journalists; 
• denounces the misuse of the law and judiciary systems as a means of silencing critical voices; 

It calls on the following:

• on the EU delegation and Member States’representations in the country to strengthen their support for civil society in their engagement with Philippine authorities, and to use all available instruments to increase their support for human rights and environmental defenders’ work, 
• Given the seriousness of the human rights violations in the country, calls on the European Commission, in the absence of any substantial improvement and willingness to cooperate on the part of the Philippine authorities, to immediately initiate the procedure which could lead to the temporary withdrawal of GSP+ preferences;
• Calls on the Philippine authorities to support the implementation of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), and to ensure effective human rights due diligence processes for investment, development and business projects,especially with regard to large scale agribusiness acquisitions, extractive industries,infrastructure projects and cooperation involving the security sector; calls on companies based in or operating within the EU to strictly comply with the UNGPs and both international and national human rights law, as well as to conduct a meticulous and comprehensive due diligence process in relation to all their business operations and relationships within the country.

Looking back to look ahead: A rights-based approach to social protection in the post-COVID-19 economic recovery

The UN special rapporteur for Human rights recently issued a report on how the many measures governments have taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are in line with a human rights based approach. From the two page summary:

"In this report, submitted in response to resolution 44/13 of the Human Rights Council, the Special Rapporteur argues that the world was ill-equipped to deal with the socioeconomic impacts of this pandemic because it never recovered from the austerity measures imposed in the aftermath of the global financial crisis of 2008-2011. The legacy of austerity measures is severely underfunded public healthcare systems, undervalued and precarious care work, sustained declines in global labour income shares, and high inequality rates coupled with average decreases in statutory corporate tax rates." ... 

"With public services in dire straits, one-off cash transfers are a drop in the bucket for people living in poverty, whether in developed, developing, or least developed countries. Maladapted, short-term, reactive, and inattentive to the realities of people in poverty, the new wave of social protection hype must hold up to human rights scrutiny. This report identifies eight challenges that must be addressed in order to bring social protection in line with human rights standards."

You can read the full report here.

Youth for Social Transformation: Nepal sees Successful Intensive Discussion for International Youth Day 2020

In Nepal, on International Youth Day, an intensive discussion program on Youth for Social Transformation was held via Zoom. The Minister of Youth and Sports, Honorable Jagat Bishwokarma, was the chief guest for the program with Mr. Madhab Dhungel, Vice-president (National Youth Council Nepal) as special Guest. Mr. Tilottam Paudel, President of Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal and the Coordinator for National Coalition for Girls Rights (NCGR) facilitated the program between 70 participants, including dignitaries from 30 Civil Society Organizations, three iNGOs, five government representatives, 12 civil society networks, representatives from National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) and Youths. The program was organized by Jagriti Child and Youth Concern Nepal (Jcycn), SDGs Studio and DHR Nepal in collaboration with the National Youth Council and NCGR. It was supported by KANALLAN Switzerland with Devchuli Television as Media Partner. 

The session started with a welcome speech by Ms. Irada Parajuli, executive Committee Member of NCGR. She was followed by Ms. Aastha Anirjit Bastakoti, a girl activist and a peer educator in Jcycn’s Girls Empowerment Program, who shared her experiences with tackling the social problems in her community, and municipality through organization and collaboration. She shared the support she gained, the challenges she faced and gave an inspiring speech to motivate fellow youth to raise their voices and work for social transformation by starting from ourselves, and to put words into practice. 

 Honorable Jagat Bishwakarma, Ministry of Youth and Sports shared the contextual need for programs like these and extended his gratitude and wishes to all Nepalese youth, in and out of Nepal. Focused on the theme of International Youth Day 2020 “Youth Engagement for Global Transformation”, he highlighted the need to create spaces for youth to be engaged and the need to forward a campaign where we can move ahead, together with youth to transform our society, while fighting practices harmful to us, especially child marriage, violence against children and girls, and discrimination, for a better future.

Mr. Sushil B.K.; writer, Gender Equality and Social Inclusion Expert and activist, gave a presentation regarding the role youth can take play in eliminating harmful social and cultural practices like Gender Based Violence, Caste best Discrimination, Chhaupadi, Dowry System, and Child Marriage, with the comparative portrayal of the society’s reality and what we need to achieve. Milan Dharel, Executive Director of National Child Rights Council highlighted the need of a critical perspective in youth to move ahead, the need to build trust, and more importantly, be our own role models so that our words are reflected in our actions. This was followed by a speech from Mr. Pushkar Khati, Member Secretary from the Social Welfare Council Nepal, who focused on the need for accountability in youth, self-reflection, and the need to spread that spirit among all the youth in the nation.

In the open floor session,  participants discussed about various ways socio-cultural transformation through youth is possible, including government and stakeholder joint action programs, regularity of collaboration, personal accountability, inclusion of youth with disability, and gender minority, and an organized movement. Dignitaries and participants discussed the government policies targeted at youth, how it has progressed throughout the years but also the gaps in implementation, and especially equitable implementation disaster, the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on the economy and youth. Dipendra Sharma from Care Nepal shared his field based experience and the issues that are prevalent in the society, which are especially discriminatory towards girls. The province 5’s head of province of NHRC Ms. Samjhana Sharma also talked about the role the human rights commission has played, and what kind of practices to progress are seen. Activists Bhakta Bishwakarma, Rabin Nepali, Karun Nepali from Raleigh International, and Journalist K.B Rana also shared their views in the discussion forum. 

After the open floor session, Mr. Madhav Dhungel, Vice President of National Youth Council Nepal discussed various programs brought forth by the National Youth Council (NYC) for the engagement of youths, entrepreneurship, capacity building and employment of youth and the role it plays in development of the nation. He also went into how NYC has been mobilizing youth in collaboration with other stakeholders with a goal to generate a progressive society, and working as  a bridge between youth and opportunities. He elaborated on how this can result in a transformative society with active, and engaged youth that are more aware.

 Ms. Manmaya Bhattarai Pangeni, Joint Secretary, Ministry of Women Children and Senior Citizens elaborated that 2020 is the year of Generation Equality and how the meaningful participation of youth is important and we need to be creating spaces for them. It is equally important to groom children from an early age and provide them with moral education so that we generate strong youth who are socially responsible. She gave examples of good international practices that have developed a culture of progressive youth. The program ended with a vote of thanks from Mr. Pradeep Lamichhane, Chairperson of SDGs Studio. 

In celebration of the International Youth Day 2020 with the slogan, “Youth Engagement for Global Action”, the main ceremony was celebrated with various virtual programs, on 12th August with Prime Minister KP Oli as the chief guest, and in the virtual presence of international guests from Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka, China and India. The program was led by National Youth Council, in joint collaboration with various other Civil Society Organizations like Jcycn, UNOY, NCGR, SPCSN, AYON, Nepal Scouts, and 100 others. Welcome for the program was done by the Ms. Bipana Sharma, on behalf of AYON, Jcycn, NCFLG Forum and the entire youth. Prime Minister KP Oli focused on youth being the pillar of the nation and how investing in youth is investing in the future. He mentioned that the government of Nepal has allocated 7.6 billion Nepalese Rupees from different ministries and departments in youth sector, and that the priority of the government is to empower youth with knowledge, skills and tools. International Speakers and guests like Honorable State minister H.E. Md. Zahid Ahsan Russel, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Country representative Ms Valerie Julliand, Resident Co-ordinator of United Nations in Nepal, Secretary, Ministry of Youth and Sports, Mr. Md. Akhter Hossain, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Chairman, National Youth Services, Sri Lanka Theshara Jayasinghe Training Director, National Youth Service Council, Mr. Rasitha Delapola, Sri-lanka, and Deputy Director, International Youth Exchange Centre, Mr. Zhang Hua, China also shared their words highlighting the need to mobilize and engage youth for a better tomorrow. 

International Youth Day 2020, like every year, was successfully celebrated with programs all over the nation.

NEW NORMAL, NEW SOCIAL CONTRACT - ANRSP calls for urgent responses to COVID-19 pandemic in the world of work

 The COVID-19 pandemic has passed 13 million, killing over 570.000 people worldwide. Every day, the number of new cases set another daily record. Many health experts say the actual number of cases around the world may be much more than the reported numbers. Vaccines can take at least a year to develop before they are proved to be safe and effective. The pandemic is taking a huge toll on health, economy and social life around the world.

Epidemiological characteristic of COVID-19 showed that virus infections tend to be more severe for older peoples and those with pre-existing health conditions, which unfortunately occur more frequently in disadvantaged groups, groups of people who have less or no access to health care, or more likely to live and work in conditions that increase the risk of infection. The policies to contain it could even widen pre-existing inequalities.

Countries have adopted various forms of policies and measures to “flatten the curve”, including a range of public health and social measures, movement restrictions, closure of schools and businesses, restriction on social-religious-sports-entertainment activities, quarantine in specific geographic areas and international travel restrictions. With school closures in over 190 countries, children’s education -especially for the girls- is at risk and potentially increases child labour. As education and training have been disrupted, young people have greater obstacles for their transition from school to work, their start-up business have seen collapses, and a current wave of job losses have hampered employment opportunities and earning, forcing more than one in six people aged under 29 to stop working. Anxiety or depression among young generation led many to dub them the ‘lock down generation’.

Partnership initated with SEWA Kerala in India

Today WSM partnered with SEWA Kerala with Ms Sonia George for a short 6 month pilot project "Undertaking groundwork for the furtherance of organising and developing social security coverage for women workers in the informal sector". With activities like research, advocacy, awareness raising and training, we hope to have as outcomes:

1. A better understanding of a social security floor for women workers in the informal sector towards policy discussions
2. Mapping of areas/sectors in which internal migration of women is high in Kerala
3. A study of the possible mechanisms for the portability of PDS for internal migrant workers
4. Organising migrant workers through source and destination linkages.

SEWA and the women in the informal sector 

SEWA is a union of women in the informal sector in existence since 1972. This union has been expanding in several states of India and presently covers 17 states. Of the present workforce in India, 93% are in the informal sector and half of these are women who are both vulnerable and, in several ways, invisible. There are no unions that focus on this sector of women who are not only vulnerable but also relegated to a back seat in most union activity in the country. SEWA has tried to make the issues of these women workers visible. The issue of social security cover for such women workers is an area that SEWA would like to focus on in the future.

And in Kerala?

Kerala is one of the older states where SEWA is established. The membership of Kerala is made up of women workers from trades like domestic workers, street vendors, fish vendors, home based workers of different kinds, reed workers and some agricultural workers, SEWA Kerala has been responsible for the sector of domestic workers within the larger SEWA national union. 

SEWA Kerala has around 15.000 members that are domestic workers and 2.000 women street vendors, as well as 3.000 fish workers, which also often double as street vendors. SEWA empowers them to increase their livelihood and food security, by organising them, strengthening their capacities to bargain and facilitating access to seed money.  

Kerala is also a state that receives a lot of women workers coming from other states, a large number of whom are invisible as they work as live in domestic workers where access to social security schemes is complicated for them, because of lack of Kerala documents.

SEWA and domestic workers

As part of this work, SEWA Kerala has been coordinating the National Platform for Domestic Workers, a platform made up of different unions around the country that work with the domestic workers. While focusing on securing a comprehensive legislation for domestic workers in India, the Platform has also been engaging with the labour reforms that the Central Government is seeking to introduce. One of the main issues in the reform is the manner in which the informal workers will have access to social security. While the present draft of the reform bill is to render social security as a welfare measure and that too with minimal coverage, the effort is to work towards securing social security as a right. This is an area in which a large awareness and understanding has to be built.

Development cooperation - Wil we keep chasing catastrophies or will we invest in better social protection?

We all know that strong social protection makes a country and its population more resilient to shocks. It is therefore undoubtedly better for people to receive a decent replacement income than to depend on emergency aid. Yet no less than 55% of the world's population does not benefit from any form of social protection and 71% is insufficiently protected throughout their life. COVID-19 and the measures taken to contain the virus make the shortages painfully clear. WSM analysed the development cooperation expenditure in Belgium and the EU for humanitarian assistance and social protection. We notice a lot of good intentions, but in practice (and budgets), the policy seems to have missed the right track with a lot more budget for the short term, (reactive) response than for the long term (proactive), stronger social protection. 

Read the full article here.

States in danger when they want to protect their populations? - The "investor-state dispute settlement" mechanism in Covid-19 time - 600 social organizations from 90 countries are reacting!

All around the world, many governments are taking action to save lives, stem the pandemic, protect jobs, fight economic disasters and ensure that people's basic needs are met. The scale of these measures is unprecedented in modern times and the need for these actions is clear. Yet these measures can be questioned and attacked, legally, by multinationals!

States are facing a wave of Investor-State Dispute Settlement (ISDS) lawsuits that could expose these crucial government measures to multi-million dollar claims from foreign investors. The number of such claims could also be unprecedented and could possibly impose significant financial burdens on governments already facing devastating health and economic crises. Lawsuits could arise from actions taken by many governments trying to, for example, ensure access to clean water for hand washing by freezing utility bills and suspending cut-offs, or to ensure that medicines, tests and vaccines are affordable for people. 

Along with 600 other organizations from 90 countries around the world, WSM is calling for the permanent suspension of this unfair mechanism, made possible by hundreds of free trade agreements signed between states. The entire open letter can be found here.