NFN's Secretary General addressed High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development
Mr. Arjun Kumar Bhattarai, Secretary General of NGO Federation of Nepal addressed official High Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2022 at UN Building on New York on behalf Asia Pasific Regional CSOs Engagement Mechanism on ensuring equal access to vaccines and resources in the poorest countries: African countries, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries.
Below here the Statement:
Thank you Chair. I’m Arjun Bhattarai from Nepal and delivering this statement on behalf of the Asia Pacific Regional CSO Engagement Mechanism.
Millions of people died especially in least developed and developing countries due to limited access to vaccines. Two and a half years after it struck us, billions of people from poor countries are still unprotected and vulnerable. The poor and marginalized including women and children across the world are systemically pushed towards these vulnerable conditions while the global public health crisis widens social and economic inequalities.
The pandemic has made stark the structural fault lines of our economy, governance and society. The circumstances demand an unprecedented response for recovery from the pandemic and advancing implementation of the SDGs through stronger, inclusive and cooperative multilateralism, and national efforts.
Notwithstanding COVID-19 as a wake up call, the new normal cemented corporate capture with the private sector’s engagement in decision making processes. Despite multiple campaigns to waive TRIPS on the vaccines, the patents were not removed which caused vaccine inequity resulting in several mutations of the virus affecting millions around the world. Big Pharmaceutical Corporations accumulated profits from the pandemic and rich countries stored the vaccines while the poorest of the world couldn’t access a single dose.
Trade rules bent on liberalization and deregulation measures are schematized to reduce state obligation for protection of citizen rights and provision of essential services, constrain governmental oversight to safeguard its national resources, prevent the development of local industries, maintain market monopoly on goods and services, and, sustain corporate capture of governance and resources around the globe.
These systematic challenges result in worse health outcomes for marginalized populations. To accelerate the achievement of the SDGs is to address these systemic barriers. We would like to remind governments to facilitate equitable access to vaccines and accelerate recovery efforts, and to multilateral institutions to address unequal trade rules that perpetuate inequalities. We restate the need to temporarily waive relevant intellectual property rules under the Agreement of Trade-Related Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPs) for COVID-19 vaccines and other technologies.
Just recovery from the pandemic is only possible when we uphold the principles of Leaving No One Behind.
Thank you, Chair.
