Lessons learned from India 2nd wave of COVID-19

Daily cases of Covid-19 and death keep on hitting a new global record as more than 400.000 new cases reported daily adding to the total number of infections to more than 20 million peoples. Positivity rate stays between 18-20 percent. At least 1 out of every 3 new cases around the world is being recorded in India. India recorded its deadliest day of the Covid-19 pandemic with more than 4.000 deaths a day, adding to the more than 215.000 people’s dead. Some city’s crematorium overflowed with dead bodies. Parking lots and open spaces have been changed into makeshift crematorium working for 24 hours a day. According to Reuters, 1 person is dying of Covid-19 every 5 minutes in India. The WHO describes the situation as ‘beyond heartbreaking’. 

People have been left to die outside of the hospital they cannot get into, due to lack of beds and facilities. Hospitals around India are reporting dying patients because of oxygen shortages. Few incidents happened; oxygen tanks leaked, and fire broke out in a hospital ward. Doctors and health workers are exhausted, overwhelmed by sudden increase of patients. They are having traumatic experiences as they must make life and death decision and turn away patient in the fact that people are dying who could otherwise be safe. The Indian Medical Association (IMA) reported that 747 doctors have died of Covid-19, the highest number were from Tamil Nadu (89 deaths), West Bengal (80 deaths) and Maharashtra (74 deaths). Healthcare workers are over-worked not only during their working time at the hospitals but also supervising many patients that stay at home without proper medical supplies. Healthcare systems are on the brink of collapse.

India’s swift decision to have two-months-long national lock-down to contain the first wave has sparked a huge exodus of millions of migrant workers who headed home to their villages and put about 100 million people out of work in a matter of days. As an impact, about 230 million Indians fell into poverty with women and children bear most of the brunt. After the first wave, the government was relaxing health protocol and allowing sport-social-religious gathering turn into ‘super-spreader events.’ Thousands or millions of peoples allowed to have gathered in one place without social distancing and mask-wearing. The impact of that decision is devastating. 

The government of India ignored warnings from the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genetics Consortium (INSACOG) about the new variant of B.1.617 first detected in early March 2021. Different with the first wave, this time India is faced with a ‘double mutation’ variant of the Covid-19 which is attacking younger populations with severe infections. There are growing fears about the spread of infections to rural areas where health infrastructure is limited or not exist. In the countryside, people die at home without medical attention and these deaths are vastly unreported. The second wave of Covid-19 crisis is expected to add 75 million people more to poverty with incomes of less than 2 USD a day. 

As the health system becomes inaccessible, people desperately turn to social media searching for oxygen, ventilators, plasma donations and medical supplies for their loves one to survive. Civil society turns into activists by helping each other through sharing information on social media, verifying news, providing oxygen, medical supplies, and food for free. However, criticism on how the government is handling the crisis is not permitted on social media. Unsurprisingly, the social media companies like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have been requested to remove all posts criticizing the Government of India. For these social media companies, access to the huge India’ market with 400 million users is more important than the rights of the Indian people for free speech. 

The response of various Indian states to Covid-19 will differ as the poorest states have the weakest capacity to deliver health services. Some states will be in far worse shape than others. Maharashtra state is one of the states that has been hit hardest by Covid-19. Over 17.975 health workers have been infected with Covid-19, and 175 have died. According to experts, there are several reasons why Maharashtra recorded the highest number of cases. First, Maharashtra state has the 2nd biggest population in India. Secondly, Maharashtra has more densely populated cities caused by urbanization, like Bombay, the Nation’s financial hub. Third, the new variant of B.1.617 was first detected in early March 2021 in Maharashtra. Fourth, Maharashtra has relatively better Covid-19 recorded tests than other states. Fifth, after the first wave, the government allowed ‘super-spreader events’ where thousands or even millions of peoples participating without respecting health protocols. And lastly, the vaccine roll-out is slow across India. 

When it comes to vaccine, India is a paradox. Serum Institute of India is the world largest vaccine manufacturing and produces half of the world’s vaccines. Now, the Serum Institute is struggling to meet even the demands of its home country. Nearly 10% of Indians have received one dose, and only 2% have received both. This is happening because India is depending on the United States to obtain raw materials needed for manufacturing vaccine. ‘America first’ policy of the US is prioritizing the use of raw materials for producing vaccines for their own peoples. The Serum Institute had promised to supply COVAX with 1,1 billion vaccines doses. Unfortunately, the Serum Institute could only deliver 19,6 million vaccines doses to COVAX before it stopped in February 2021 as they also prioritize India’s domestic needs.   

The world has seen a moral deficit as Covid-19 Vaccine are being rolled out. Approximately 216 million peoples have been vaccinated against Covid-19 globally, but only 8,4% of these are in low and lower-middle-income countries. Wealthy nations have failed to prevent this tragedy happening in India and failed to contain the spread of global pandemic as they are almost exclusively prioritizing their own vaccinations and pile up stocking of vaccines for their own populations. Lower-middle income and poor countries are depending on World Health Organization initiative of COVAX vaccines which mainly come from India’ Serum Institute. Indirectly the wealthy nations are raising vaccine prices and squeezing lower-income countries out of vaccination race. For example, South Africa paid double what the European Union did for the AstraZeneca vaccine. If this trend continues, we will see vulnerable people in poorer countries continue to die needlessly.

This ‘vaccine nationalism’ is a very bad policy as it is self-defeating while it opens the possibility of new more-life-threatening variants of Covid-19 mutation to emerge somewhere in a poorer country. It is very risky to rely on production of vaccine from only a few manufacturers to supply vaccine to the rest of the world when cases of pandemic occur. Therefore, we welcomed the support of US and EU to waive the vaccine intellectual property (IP) rights proposed by the government of India and South Africa. It would allow other countries with the manufacturing capacity to produce and scale up production of Covid-19 vaccines. We expect there is not even one country among the 164 members of WTO which will vote against a waiver, because then that initiative would fail.

Patent waiving of IP Rights is just a first step. The fact is producing and distributing vaccine is complicated and takes time. We basically cannot wait for months or years before those patent waivers give impact for boosting global vaccine productions. What we need urgently is boosting production capacity of existing manufacturers and reducing restrictions on the export of vaccine and raw materials to make them. Equitable access to vaccines for all people and a global vaccination strategy will lead to global herd immunity. 

As the crisis deepened, international aid is coming from around the world, sending vaccine, oxygen, medicines, diagnostic tests, protective gears, etc. It is helpful, but too little, too late. It is becoming clear that what happened in India is not only catastrophic to India, but also to the rest of the world. As distribution of vaccine being halted, we will be expecting outbreaks to happen soon in other countries. Imagine if the virus reached a state like Myanmar. This country has a very poor health system affected by years of armed conflict and violence. With 1.600 km porous border, thousands of internally displaced persons and political refugees from Chin state of Myanmar flee and seek safe havens in the Mizoram and Manipur districts of India. 

What is already obvious is the spill-over of the virus to Nepal. Six provinces of Nepal share a porous border of about 1.850 km with 5 states of India, mainly Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. An estimated 6 million Nepalese live and work in India. With sudden increase of cases up to 9.000 a day, the fragile health system of Nepal is on the brink to collapse. 2 out of 5 people tested now return positive. More than 3.500 peoples have died, and 400 of them in the past 2 weeks alone. Nepal is just two weeks behind India towards similar catastrophe. Closing the borders is too little too late, as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka are also reporting spikes of cases. Very soon the center of global Covid-19 cases will move to South Asia. 

Along with the raise of cases in India, more and more countries decided to close its border for peoples coming from India. Discrimination against Indian peoples is increasing in many countries. The government of Australia has taken disproportionate and very punitive laws, which criminalize their own citizens coming or returning home from India. This policy is obviously racists against India-Australians people and civil society organizations should pressure the government of Australia to immediately withdraw this policy.

The worst has yet to come for India. India urgently needs to provide oxygen for patients, roll out vaccines, build temporary hospitals, isolation center and vaccine centers in a short period of time, while providing proper personal protective equipment and safe environment for health workers. People must know that the current vaccine should be seen as preventive measures rather than treatment, which means that those people who were vaccinated can still be infected by the virus and infect others. Research at this point only demonstrated that the vaccine alleviates the symptoms, which is already a huge step forward. Scientist do not know yet for how long the current vaccines will maintain antibody immune system against Covid-19. Therefore, people must respect and implement health protocols everywhere, anytime. Hopefully, anti-viral medicine and booster vaccines that can anticipate new variants and serve to stimulate the immune system to recognize a new variant in a longer lasting period can be developed.

Health has never been a major issue in the general election in India. However, the Covid-19 pandemic should change this . It is now time to raise health care as a prominent campaign. Healthcare spending in India remains just a little over 1% of the Gross Domestic Product, as opposed to the National health Policy which stipulates 2,5%. The budgetary allocation on healthcare as percentage share of the total budget remains at 1,98%. It is the responsibility of the government to ensure the health of the people by providing universal quality healthcare which is accessible and affordable. We should make sure that government manifesto regarding health do not end up mere rhetoric and window dressing. The government must involve people in policy development of the healthcare system, its monitoring and evaluation, because health has always been the primary concern of people. All people have equal rights to universal quality healthcare. 

The longer the virus can spread rampant in India, the more people it will infect and the more likely it is that further mutations will emerge. Many people do not yet realize the severity of what lies ahead. What happens in India is vital to what will happen next to the world. While the UK variant was detected in January in the northern state of Punjab, the Indian variant B.1.617 has now reached at least 17 countries. The battle against Covid-19 seems to be a long one. The India case is an alarming reminder of how the virus can spike when precautions are lifted and health protocol ignored. Unless we keep being cautious and learn from experiences like the one from India, we cannot win this battle.

OCCUPATIONAL HEALTH AND SAFETY ARE WORKERS’ FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS - INSP!R INDONESIA

Press Release 28 April 2021 Commemorating International Occupational Safety and Health Day

According to data from BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (Social Insurance Body on employment), cases of work accidents in Indonesia continue to increase from year to year. In 2017, BPJS Ketenagakerjaan recorded as many as 123,040 work accident cases in Indonesia (with a claim fee of IDR 971.95 billion), which increased in 2018 to 173,415 cases (with a claim fee of IDR 1.22 trillion) and increased again in 2019 to 182,835 cases (with a claim fee of IDR 1.57 trillion). Of these work accident cases, over 4,500 people died and more than 2,400 caused disabilities.

As of January 2021, the Indonesian Doctors Association (IDI) recorded 504 health workers died due to COVID-19. They consist of 237 doctors, 15 dentists, 171 nurses, 64 midwives, 7 pharmacists and 10 medical laboratory personnel. This number still excludes support staff such as cleaners, hospital staff and health volunteers who died or were exposed to COVID-19 due to their work. The death rate of health workers in Indonesia is the highest in Asia and the fifth largest in the world.

Every worker has the FUNDAMENTAL RIGHT to live and be healthy, avoiding work accidents or occupational diseases. Law number 1 of 1970 concerning Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) lays down the basic principles of implementing OSH. The OSH management system must be implemented in all workplaces, without exception, including the requirements for health protocols, personal protective equipment, OSH training, supervision, prevention, and treatment. Social security, especially death and work injury insurance, must be implemented in all workplaces.

The high number of deaths and disabilities continues to increase due to accidents and diseases in the workplace, among others caused by:

1. Law no. 1 of 1970 concerning Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) can no longer answer current challenges and problems, especially after the COVID-19 pandemic
2. The government has not made OSH a priority issue, so education and socialization regarding the regulations and importance of OSH are not optimal, especially for contract workers, seasonal workers, digital platform workers, informal workers, domestic workers, migrant workers, and workers with disabilities.
3. The weak role of labor inspectors and law enforcement to ensure that OSH provisions are carried out properly according to the provisions, as well as the ineffective role of the OSH tripartite institutions at the national down to the company level.
4. Weak awareness of employers to comply with legal rules on OSH. There are still many employers who consider OSH as a cost or burden, not an investment in human resources that can support workers productivity.
5. There are still many workers who have not been registered with the employment Social Security program, especially women workers in the informal sector, contract workers, seasonal workers, digital platform workers, domestic workers, migrant workers, and workers with disabilities. As of February 2021, the number of active participants in Work Accident and Death Security benefits from groups of wage earners was 19.26 million, migrant workers were 350.000, construction service workers were 5.46 million people and participants who did not receive wages were 2.68 million people.
6. The process of claiming work accident or occupational disease benefits is carried out by the company, while often the company is reluctant to report a work accident or occupational disease in order to maintain its 'zero accident' status. This is detrimental to workers, especially for workers who are exposed to diseases but are no longer working in the company.
7. Apart from the problems above, currently BAPPENAS (National Planning Body) and DJSN (National Council of Social Security) are initiating a merger of the JKK (Work Injury Program) and JKN (Health Care Program) so that later curative financing due to occupational accidents and occupational diseases will be managed by BPJS Kesehatan (Social Security Body for Health). This plan will certainly be detrimental to workers who have received work accident insurance services in the form of curative, rehabilitative, and unemployment benefits, to vocational training.

To that end, we, International Network for Social Protection Rights Indonesia (INSP!R Indonesia), representing 13 civil society organizations, part of the International Network for Social Protection Rights (INSP!R), are demanding the Indonesian government to:

1. Immediately revise Law no. 1 of 1970 concerning Occupational Safety and Health to answer the latest OSH challenges, and to make OSH a fundamental right for every worker, equally for men and women, without exception, in all workplaces, including OSH for contract workers, seasonal workers, digital platform workers, informal workers, domestic workers, migrant workers and workers with disabilities. Hereby, INSP!R Indonesia supports the position of the Government of the Republic of Indonesia to include OSH as a fundamental right of workers at the ILO 110th Session of the International Labour Conference in 2022.
2. Increase the role of supervision and law enforcement of OSH regulations, as well as ensure the effective role of the OSH tripartite institutions in companies, particularly the implementation of Health protocols in all workplaces.
3. Conduct education and socialization on OSH to all workers, with budget support from the APBN / APBD (National budget/ District budget) and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (Social Security Body on Employment).
4. Encourage the Ministry of Manpower and BPJS Ketenagakerjaan (Social Security Body on Employment) to open an effective space for reporting, complaints and claim benefits for work accidents and occupational diseases, including for persons with disabilities.
5. Expand the participation and benefits of the Work Injury Security and Death Security Program for contract workers, seasonal workers, digital platform workers, informal workers, domestic workers, migrant workers and workers with disabilities.
6. Strictly reject the plan to incorporate the Work Accident Insurance into the National Health Insurance because it will undermine benefits of programs for workers.
7. Support the implementation of the “Independent” COVID-19 Vaccine, with strict rules and supervision without burdening workers at any cost.

Please maintain Health protocols.

List of member organizations of INSP!R Indonesia:

1. KSBSI (All Indonesian Trade Union
2. Confederation)
3. BPJS Watch (Social Security Watch)
4. KPI (Indonesia Women Coalition)
5. PJS (Association of Mental Health Indonesia)
6. JBM (Migrant Workers Network)
7. TURC (Trade Union Research Center)
8. Flower Aceh (Aceh Women Organization)
9. Gajimu.com (Platform on Wage)
10. LIPS/TPOLS (Sedane Labor Institute)
11. GARTEKS (Trade Union Federation of Garment, Textile, Leather and Shoes)
12. REKAN (Indonesia Health Volunteer)
13. KAPRTBM (Coalition of Domestic workers and migrant workers)
14. JAPBUSI (Indonesia Workers Network on Palm Oil)

Illustrating the importance of social protection in Nepal: Meet Gopal

Gopal, 74 years old. “I have been receiving the old age allowance for the past four years. My wife also gets this grant, for which Sarita helped. My wife is a couple of years older than me, so she has been receiving the grant for longer. I didn’t know about my age, or what papers I needed. We needed to go look for my papers and find my birth date, so I would know when I could start getting this grant. Then, Sarita helped me to fill out the forms at the ward office. It was easy, not hard because she was there and she knew everything, and everyone.

At first, I used to go to the ward office to get the money, but then I opened a bank account, to get the money deposited there. The bank is very near, I take my bicycle to go there whenever the ward office member tells me the grant has been deposited. He lives just around the corner, so it is easy. He also made sure I got the money cash during the lockdown, when the banks were closed. There have never been any delays, I get it every four months.

I have another bank account which I use to get the money for the sugarcane I grow. But most of the money that I make from that, I give to my sons. I have five sons and all of them are married and went away, except the youngest who stays with me. He is a teacher and not yet married. My other four sons are all over, in Kathmandu, India and Saudi Arabia. I don’t expect financial support from them, I think once a boy is married and he has his own family, we should try not to be a burden to them. I try to give them all the money I make from sugarcane, and just live from the old age allowance for us, but it is very little. Even though my sons have jobs, they still can use some extra money because rent and education is so expensive, prices have really gone up.

I usually withdraw the entire amount when I get it, because we need it for food and my medication. My wife suffers from rheumatism, aching bones, and I have gastritis. I go through a bottle of pills almost every ten days, which costs me 200NPR.

While I was working, I paid taxes, of course. I think it is right that the government should support old people, because many times, their children can’t take care of them. We worked a lot and still continue to labour, but that is not always possible."

Testimony gathered during field visit with SPCSN in Province 2, with CFWA and Save the Children.

Provincial Launch: Strengthening Nepal’s social protection through sustainable financing

ILO Nepal, the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors and UNICEF Nepal have committed to strengthening social protection through sustainable financing at the provincial level

Today marks the provincial launch of “Improving Synergies between Social Protection and Public Finance Management” in Nepal, a critical step towards implementing the innovative project that aims at improving government’s social protection policies and financing strategies through enhanced coordination mechanisms. The project takes on an inclusive approach by reaching out to persons with disabilities, informal sector workers, and people vulnerable to disasters. 

The global project, launched on 17th November 2020 envisages working closely with government  by improving the design, implementation and financing of the social protection systems, and by ensuring social protection systems are gender-sensitive, disability-inclusive and shock-responsive. In Nepal, the project will work closely with Provinces 2 and 6. 

“The ILO Nepal has been working in close coordination with the Social Security Fund (SSF) to advance the government’s agenda on social protection. In the backdrop of how COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the significance of contribution-based social protection in the country, the project hopes to build the capacity of federal and provincial actors for effective and timely implementation of social security systems.” said Richard Howard, Director of the ILO Country Office for Nepal.

Social protection is a human right, and an investment with high social and economic returns– yet more than half the world’s population do not have access to any social protection , and coverage remains particularly low for vulnerable groups such as children, persons with disabilities, women and men who work in the informal economy and migrants. 

To get more people better coverage, to raise more money for social protection and spend it better, social movements like CSOs and trade unions have a key role to play. “Many of us have years of grassroot experiences and insights, strive to represent and advocate to ensure the inclusion of all. Through this programme, social movements can hopefully be involved meaningfully and structurally and ensure that no one is left behind.” stated Bruno Deceukelier from WSM on behalf of the GCSPF.

The event was opened by Hon’able Dr. Ram Kumar Phuyal, National Planning Commission, followed by introductory remarks from representatives of the partner organizations. Over 60 participants attended, highlighting the role of social protection in the context of Nepal and the COVID-19 pandemic.

This project is part of the European Union (EU)’s global Action on improving synergies between social protection (SP) and public finance management in the evolving federalization context. The Action is being implemented in priority partner countries : Angola, Burkina Faso, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Nepal, Paraguay, Senegal and Uganda. United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), International Labour Office (ILO), and Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) are key global partners. 

In Nepal, the project is being jointly led by UNICEF, ILO and WSM on behalf of the GCSPF, and is supported by EU and Foreign and Commonwealth Development Office (FCDO).

Side Event of the UN Commission for Social Development 2021: housing, global fund and other topics

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors, of which WSM is a very active member, is organising a Side Event of the UN Commission for Social Development 2021: Building Roofs and Raising Floors Through Inclusive Digital Technologies and A Global Fund for Social Protection. Sulistri from KSBSI Indonesia and Asia Steering Committee member will be speaking.

Date: 12 February, 2021; 8:30am –  9:45am EST

A secure Zoom link will be provided to all registrants. Please register at through this link. 

Context:

Social protection is a human right, and an investment with high social and economic returns – yet more than half the world’s population do not have access to comprehensive social protection. Coverage remains particularly low for marginalized children, people with disabilities, older people, widows, women, people working in the informal economy, migrants, the LGBTQI community, and people who are experiencing homelessness.

COVID-19 has acted as an X-ray to highlight inequalities and as a stress test for access to social protection, basic human rights, income, health security, and such essential goods as housing and food. People who are homeless have been particularly vulnerable during the COVID-19 pandemic, where “staying home” has been the primary strategy for protection against the virus. Social protection is a means of ensuring those without a roof have one, as countries that have tackled homelessness are proving. Many countries are now realizing both the necessity and the long-term benefits of universal, comprehensive and adequate social protection for all, based on sustainable and equitable financing, robust, adapted and tripartite administration and anchored in law.

Inclusive digital technologies can help to build roofs and raise floors for the most vulnerable among us and will ensure the sustainability of interventions. 

The necessity for guaranteeing, financing and delivering social protection to all including the most hard to reach may require, notably in low income countries, the technical and financial support of a Global Fund for Social Protection, which is being explored by the UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty and the Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors. The pandemic is set to push up to 150 million people into extreme poverty, and 150 million children into multidimensional poverty2, and we can expect that homelessness has also increased worldwide.  Homelessness is one of the most visible indicators of failure in any national social protection system, and the cruelest form of social exclusion often of the most marginalized. Yale University estimates “that no less than 150 million people, or about 2 percent of the world’s population, are homeless. However, about 1.6 billion, more than 20 percent of the world’s population, may lack adequate housing.”3  A substantial number of people in the latter group (i.e. more than 20% of the global population) are likely to be permanently vulnerable to homelessness notably in times of crises. The economic impact of COVID-19 is a driver of housing insecurity and pushing ever more people to the brink of homelessness.

To respond to the socioeconomic fallouts of the COVID-19 pandemic, many countries have put in place some social protection responses to support workers, children and families. However, these are, for the most part, ad hoc measures of short duration, and need to be transformed into sustainable social protection measures. In relation to housing, time-limited eviction moratoriums are beginning to end around the world, putting more people at risk of homelessness.

We know that still one fifth of the world lacks guarantees to social protection and homelessness is linked to this. We know what works, and which countries have made it one of their priorities to deal with homelessness as part of their social protection systems. It is time to build on these experiences to turn short-term measures into long- term solutions for all. The COVID-19 crisis has demonstrated that countries with established social protection systems are in a much better position to address the social and economic fallout of crises faster, more effectively, and more efficiently than countries who have to introduce new schemes on an ad hoc emergency basis. Communities that can count on inclusive data and technology systems have also been best positioned to respond to the unique needs of those who are homeless and housing insecure during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is more important than ever to make connections between social protection and the ongoing crisis in homelessness, strengthen and scale up social protection systems with digital systems, as the best way not only to cushion the impacts of the crisis on all those who are the most vulnerable, including families and those who are homeless, but to ensure an inclusive and sustainable recovery for all.

The Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors (GCSPF) and the Global Call for Action Against Poverty (GCAP) invite you to a 75-minute side event with speakers from Governments, United Nations, civil society and academia. We will tackle the diverse and interconnecting perspectives on social protection and homelessness, and consider why the Global Fund for Social Protection is necessary to deliver to all the right to social protection. We will look at how digital technology can extend social protection floors to those who are living without roofs. Examples include the sponsored use of cellphones that ensure a minimum of connectedness and a critical link to society. Insights and conclusions will be inputted into the ongoing work of the Commission of Social Development and the discussions about the Global Fund for Social Protection.

Provisional Program Outline

All are welcome. The following provisional program outline is as of 29 January 2021; an updated flier with all confirmed speakers will be circulated closer to the event.

Moderator - Magdalena Sepulveda, Executive Director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR)

Section 1:  Overview of the Topic from Member States and Special Rapporteur

• Saila Ruuth, State Secretary to the Minister of Social Affairs and Health, Government of Finland
• Meryame Kitir, Minister of Development Cooperation, in charge of Major Cities, Government of Belgium
• Olivier De Schutter, Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights

Section 2: Lived Experience and Social Protections for All

• Rob Robinson, Partners for Dignity and Human Rights and Institute of Global Homelessness
• Samuel Obara, Africa Platform for Social Protection
• Roshni K. Nuggehalli, Global Call to Action Against Poverty, Wada Na Todo Abhiyan, Youth for Unity and Voluntary Action
• Sulistri Afrileston, All Indonesian Trade Union Confederation

Section 3: Action for change: Collaboration between civil society and the United Nations

• Nicola Wiebe, Social Protection Policy Specialist Bread for the World, Global Coalition for Social Protection Floors
• Shahra Razavi, Director of Social Security, The International Labour Organisation 

Conclusions and recommendations

• Paul Ladd, United Nations Research Institute for Social Development

Primary Contact: Lydia Stazen, DePaul University, lstazen@ighomelessness.org. A secure Zoom link will be provided to all registrants. Please register at here. 

Publication: a pocket guide on gender equality

 On the eve of 8 March, International Women's Rights Day, WSM is publishing a handbook to share reflections and good practices on gender equality on four continents, in four languages (FR, NL, EN, ES). Mixing theory and practices, it aims to encourage organizations to make a concrete commitment towards greater gender equality.

Gender equality means equal rights and equal opportunities between men and women. Equality between men and women is essential to ensure the sustainability and inclusiveness of development. It is an essential principle that is, however, rarely applied.

It seemed essential to us to propose a practical tool that popularized this thematic, proposes an analysis grid, while highlighting inspiring testimonies and good practices from our network. The objective is to be able to address this issue in a practical way at different levels: at the level of organizations (including our own organizations), but also at the level of networks.

Designed both to raise awareness and to capitalize on experiences, this "roadmap" is also a tool in which we set out our vision and strategy on gender equality in a very accessible way. Available in four languages (FR, NL, EN, ES) and mixing theory and practices, it is intended to be a guide to launch an in-depth reflection with our partner organizations on the concrete steps to be taken to achieve gender equality. It is not intended to be exhaustive.

We illustrate this with inspiring cases, lessons learned, concrete advice and recommendations, do's and don'ts from our partners in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Belgium.

Nearly 570.000 people reached 2020 in Bangladesh through

For labour standards: over 175.000 garment workers (57% women and 77% youth) reached.

• Over 170.000 garment workers are more aware of their rights through public outreach. 
  
• 2.700 garment workers are newly organized
• Almost 300 workers received basic or advanced training 
• Over 1.000 garment workers received legal assistance. 
• Nearly 1.000 workers were mobilised to demand an increase of the minimum wage. 

141 people got vocational skill training through GK, and they raised awareness regarding women driving.

350.000 workers were made aware of their social security rights and 60 got a basic training. 

Almost 45.000 people improved their access to health because of GK, with 10.000 people getting direct medical attention.

• Partners:             NGWF, GK, OHS Initiative, BSPAN
• Budget 2020:     100.000€
• Donor:                Belgian Development Directorate
• Programme:        2017-2021

Infographics Bangladeshi workers and social protection during lockdown and COVID-19 - BSPAN

The WSM supported Bangladesh Social Protection Advocacy Network BSPAN also allocated 20% of its annual budget to COVID-19 related activities and raised awareness about pandemic and preventive measures among the workers and their community through 5000 awareness raising flyers and delivered emergency health support and telemedicine among 200 workers and relatives. BSPAN also advocated for COVID-19 to be declared an Occupational Disease.

As the pandemic closed their doors on Bangladeshi garment workers, trade unions step up

The Garment Workers’ Federation NGWF focuses on labour standards and social security for the 2 million Bangladeshi textile workers, mostly women. Over 2.600 workers joined the trade union, and almost 250 received training regarding labour rights and collective bargaining. Over 1.000 workers received legal aid and more than 600 publicly advocated for better working conditions in Bangladesh through rallies, hunger strikes, human chains, memoranda handovers to the government, etc.). Over 200.000 workers were sensitized regarding social security schemes through posters and leaflets and 150.000 workers were reached through their media releases regarding the situation and rights of garment workers. 

Khadija, 26 year old, came to Dhaka in 2015 and started work as an Assistant Operator with 5,300BDT salary. She is from an impoverished family and struggled financially during her life. When she joined in her job in 2015, she didn’t know anything about her rights, about her different types of benefits i.e. work hours, overtime benefits, maternity leaves and benefits, workplace health and safety issues, gender violence etc. As a result, she suffered different types of abuse by factory management who used slang and sometimes beat her. When becoming a member of NGWF, she regularly attended the meetings and training programs relating to Gender Training, Workplace Health & Safety Training, Collective Bargaining Training, Labour Rights Training. Afterwards, she started participating in public demonstrations. This not only helped her improve her working conditions and wages, she shared her knowledge with other workers, got more members and formed a factory union which got registered in November 2020. Khadija is now getting her wage properly and can better support her family. She is very motivated to continue organizing and her goal is to strengthen the union to ensure decent wages and also to stop gender discrimination.

Bringing health services to over 10.000 Bangladeshi people amidst a pandemic in 2020: GK

In 2020, besides offering vocational skill courses to 79 people, GK also offered access to health amidst the pandemic. Over 10.000 members (67% women, 69% young workers) received medical advice or health insurance on preventive care with drug essentials, specialized health camps, grants for destitute groups, HIV/AIDS Screening. 162 people (85% women and 93% young) are provided with basic training on traditional birth attendants, rapport building and communication for paramedics, gender workshops and disabilities. 

During any national and international calamities, GK always tries to respond as early as possible through medical services, reconstruction of damaged houses, and food distribution, including safe drinking water. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, GK was working 24/7 across the board. Efforts included various preventive measures in the hospitals and at the community level, including the development of a rapid test kit to detect COVID-19 named GR COVID-19 Rapid Dot Blot, raising fund for an Emergency Food Distribution Program, taking steps to increase social awareness about COVID-19 using social media and distributing leaflets to the general public, establishing a Designated Flu Corner at the Savar hospital and organizing a COVID-19 Call Center to provide telemedicine support and advice (report here).

WSM partner in Bangladesh, Gonoshasthaya Kendra (GK), the largest health provider after the Bangladeshi government, is one of the oldest non-profit, non-governmental, and national-level organizations in Bangladesh. GK is a people-oriented healthcare-based organization that provides services in health care, women's empowerment, education, disaster management, emergency relief, nutrition, water & sanitation, agriculture, basic rights-based advocacy, and research. Over the past five decades, GK has expanded its services to cover approximately 1.67 million people in 1,017 villages. GK serves mostly vulnerable and low-income groups in rural areas, mainly through its 44 rural sub-centers and six referral hospitals.

2020 COVID context in Bangladesh

In terms of COVID-19, Bangladesh is the second most affected country in South Asia, after India. The Bangladeshi government declared a lockdown from 23 March to 30 May. Throughout 2020, routine testing was never adopted in Bangladesh. Even though garment factories were allowed to continue operating under the country's lockdown, an estimated one million garment workers, or one-quarter of the workforce, were laid off due to declining orders for export. In April, hundreds of garment workers marched in Chittagong demanding factory owners pay them last month's wages following delays after over 500 garment factories in Dhaka and Chittagong had been shut down for a month. In 2020, a total of 7.781 deaths were registered in Bangladesh because of COVID.

Call for action: support the demand for an HRDD instrument from the EU Commission: A law to protect workers, people, and planet from bad business

The European Commission is finally ready to consider a new law to hold businesses accountable for their impact on people and the planet. These rules on mandatory human rights and environmental due diligence should require all companies, from fossil fuel giants and agribusiness to fashion retailers and electronics makers, to establish effective policies to make sure human rights and the environment are not being harmed in their global operations and supply chains.

The EU Commission announced last year that they would come with a proposal on mandatory Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), including corporate liability, access to remedy for victims etc. We feel the EU can and must use its power to set ambitious standards in the fight to hold business accountable for things like union busting, forced labor, land grabbing or toxic waste dumping.

The proposal would be published around June 2021 and until 8th of February, the Commission runs a consultation to collect the input from citizens and stakeholders. INSP!R Asia and its members also contributed since the consultation is open to people across the world that are affected by problems in the global value chains. Since the official submission for an EU consultation is often quite complex (find it here), a coalition of organisations (ETUC, Friends of the Earth, ECCJ etc.) have developed a ‘citizen tool’, to join the consultation by signing their submission here. 

What is “human rights and environmental due diligence”?

It is generally understood as the process for businesses to identify, prevent, reduce and account for the negative impacts of their activities or relationships, which often involve subsidiaries, subcontractors, suppliers and other economic transactions.

Trade unions at work in Nepal during 2020

 WSM trade union partners continued their focus on the contributory social security fund and trying to ensure informal workers are covered. They joined a task force established by the Ministry of Labour, Employment and Social Security to address the pandemic’s impact on the labour market. All three trade unions also established disaster management committees during the lockdown to monitor the impact of the pandemic among their members, and offer assistance where possible. GEFONT’s rapid assessment study found 42% of enterprises did not pay out any form of remuneration from March 16 to April 15, contrary to the commitment made by the Federation of Nepalese Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FNCCI).

Trade union support helped to survive lockdown

Hari, a taxi driver in Kathmandu: “I hardly made €10 or 1,500NPR a month with which I had to manage for my family of four to live. Due to the never-ending lockdown, the owner of my taxi couldn’t give me my salary. Life went from how to live on my salary to how to survive without it. I felt devastated. The first month we managed with some savings, but from the second month onwards, we had no money, no food to eat. As my son has tuberculosis, all our money went to his medication. Then, my mother got glaucoma and went blind…My trade union, NTUC, provided us with enough food to survive and also some medical facilities to my son. If they hadn’t helped us in this time of need, my entire family would have starved to death.”

INSP!R Nepal working on both contributory and non-contributory social protection in 2020

The trade union umbrella ITUC-NAC focused on better Occupational Health and Safety through advanced training in six sectors. They also promoted the contributory social security through training, advocacy and awareness-raising of over 25.000 workers. This contributed to an increase in enrolment in the Social Security Fund from less than 140.000 to 184.000 workers by end 2020.

Social Protection Civil Society Network (part of INSP!R Nepal) worked to ensure delivery of non-contributory social security schemes to citizens. After years of continuous advocacy by UNICEF and civil society, the Government of Nepal increased their universal child grant districts from 14 to 25 districts, out of a total of 77 districts.

Universal child grant helps family save

Devi, 27, mother of Arian: “We didn’t know about any grants or support from the government. I can sign my name but not much else. When we managed with support to register, we opened a bank account in my son’s name, and so the money gets sent there every four months. It’s good that the account is in his name, because that way we are reminded that the money is for things he needs. My husband works with heavy machinery, but it isn’t easy to find work nowadays. He spent three years working abroad in Malaysia as a driver. He made good money there but, during lockdown, he had to come back, and since his visa had expired, he had to pay for his flight back himself, which was expensive. He is looking to leave again, and I have to support him to do so, even though I will miss him. We also have to help our parents, since they need money to get by. My husband’s parents aren’t getting any support from the government, because they are still five years away from getting the old-age allowance. My father had a stroke, so he receives a disability allowance. I think our government gives these allowances to people in need to ensure a good life for Nepali citizens, which is the right thing to do. But I think the politicians make these schemes so people will vote for them again, so they can get re-elected.”