“During bad circumstances, which is the human inheritance, you must decide not to be reduced. You have your humanity, and you must not allow anything to reduce that. We are obliged to know we are global citizens. Disasters remind us we are world citizens, whether we like it or not.” – Maya Angelou
Approaching the G20 Summit on 15-16 November 2022, C20 calls on all leaders of the G20 to make greater efforts to solving the current global situation. Millions of people have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The negative impacts of the pandemic have been compounded by the multiple crises in the food, energy and financial sectors caused by the Ukraine-Russia conflict. Our humanity is at stake and governments, the business and civil society organizations must be committed to promote world peace and ennoble humanity.
We ended the year 2021, with the hope that the world could recover together and recover stronger from COVID-19, but the global health architecture is still unequal among countries across the world. The C20 calls upon the G20 to strengthen the global health architecture to be more inclusive, ensuring accessible vaccines, especially for developing countries. Global recovery will only take place if all countries, rich and poor, have the same access and means, including financial resources, knowledge and technology to protect all citizens.
The COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted global development and has caused misery to millions of people, especially those in developing countries. Equal access to COVID-19 vaccines across nations has yet to be achieved. As of August 2022 only 20.3% of the population on the African continent have been fully vaccinated; meanwhile half of the countries in Europe have achieved more than an 85% vaccination rate and have already initiated booster shots. The world has barely recovered from the pandemic when new waves of crises mercilessly struck. The energy, food and financial crises have been exacerbated by the Ukraine-Russia war. The war has already had an impact on the global economy and its social impacts are having profound ripple effects on inequality. We must also remember that due to the war there is a surging number of refugees, displaced persons and more people with physical and psychosocial disabilities.
Recover together, Recover stronger is the commitment of G20 under Indonesia’s Presidency as a principle to navigate policy solutions to the world’s problems. However, it can only be achieved if G20 collaborates with other countries that have the same common goals, are committed to a concerted effort to recover from the pandemic, leaving no one behind, with input and support from civil society organizations.
