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	Globalizing compassion amidst COVID-19 by Kailash Satyarthi Nobel Peace Prize recipient   May 2020   In the space of just a few months, COVID-19 has changed our world beyond recognition. Wherever one lives, one feels a palpable sense of fear. Yet we do not all respond to fear in the same way. Though we all instinctively want to protect our loved ones, in a deeply unequal world, not all of us have the means to do so.   Among the most painful consequences of the pandemic is that it has or will hit the world's most vulnerable children and their families the hardest, driving many households that had escaped poverty over the past two decades back into destitution.   Child laborers, out-of-school children, and young people fleeing conflict or disaster are particularly at risk.Many of these children and their families live in informal settlements, in conditions that make social distancing and self-isolation impossible.   Many also have underlying health conditions that put them at increased risk from COVID-19. And many lack regular access to basic services like drinking water and electricity, while lockdowns have ended vital school-based meal programs.   Worst of all, many of the world's poorest and most vulnerable people do not have reliable access to sanitation, let alone health care.   Through our 100 million for 100 million campaign's work, I know that children in Nairobi's informal 'slum' settlement of Mathare now fear more than ever that they will go hungry. In India, we have opened the doors of Mukti Ashram, a rehabilitation facility for rescued child laborers, to take in street children and to feed the local community.   All over the world, communities and civil-society groups are showing compassion by volunteering their time and resources to protect their poorer neighbors.   Nonetheless, the situation calls for significantly more action, and on a much wider scale. Nearly one in five children worldwide lives on less than $2 per day.   The International Labor Organization reports that tens of millions of informal workers have already become unemployed as a result of the pandemic. And the World Food Program warns that an additional 130 million people could be pushed to the brink of starvation by the end of this year.   All of these trends indicate that marginalized children who were already at risk of hunger could starve.   Government and civil-society efforts to eradicate child poverty and end child labor must be stepped up substantially, both now and in the months and years following the immediate crisis. Evidence from past economic shocks shows that in countries with inadequate or non-existent social protections, many more children will be forced to work.   Moreover, a pandemic makes this especially likely. If adults in vulnerable households die or are incapacitated from COVID-19, the task of earning money to survive will fall to their children.   So, unless we act now, the crisis could leave millions more children vulnerable to forced labor, slavery, and trafficking, followed by a lifetime of illiteracy and poverty for those who survive. The long-term impact on an entire generation of children will be catastrophic.   As matters stand, G20 countries have committed more than $5 trillion in spending to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19. Yet the vast majority of those funds will go to those who are already best able to cope with the pandemic. Some of the world's richest corporations are benefiting the most, and many haven't paid their fair share of taxes for years.   Meanwhile, hard commitments and support for the world's most marginalized and vulnerable populations so far account for only a tiny fraction of the global financial response.   Vulnerable children and families must receive a proportional share. The poorest 20% of humanity should be accorded 20% of the funds, which would amount to a transformational $1 trillion.   That sum would cover the United Nations appeal for charitable giving to tackle COVID-19, two years of low-income countries debt repayments, and two years of the annual funding gap for the Sustainable Development Goals. The SDGs include concrete programs to improve access to health, water, sanitation, and education, which is crucial for providing a better future for marginalized children.   Even after covering these outstanding costs, there would still be enough left to fund the social safety nets needed to prevent child labor. It is safe to assume that more than ten million lives would be saved. That is a response to the COVID-19 crisis that humanity could be proud of.   So, I am urging all G20 leaders to look beyond their own borders, and to recognize the urgent need for coordinated international aid.   I am also calling on US President Donald Trump to reconsider his decision to freeze American funding for the World Health Organization. The WHO is absolutely critical at the moment, and it will continue to play a vital role in supporting basic health care, including vaccinations for children in less-developed regions.   In every country hit by COVID-19, one can find stories of hope. Millions of health workers are providing front-line care for the infected. Teachers are continuing children's education online. Huge new volunteer networks are taking shape and extending a helping hand to those who lack access to basic supplies, food, and drinking water.   When so many ordinary people are going out of their way to show compassion and assist the poorest and most vulnerable, it would be utterly shameful if national leaders did not do the same.Governments must join us in creating a safer world for all our children. Let this pandemic be the moment when we commit to genuine, enduring change.   * A Fair Share for Children: Preventing the loss of a generation to COVID-19: http://www.laureatesandleaders.org/virtual-2020   * A Fair Share to End Child Labour: Universal Social Protection for Children in Low-Income Countries: http://www.laureatesandleaders.org/unga2021   Mar. 2020   Globalizing compassion amidst COVID-19.   Coronavirus has forced us to live a life that most of us have never experienced before with almost one fourth of the world's population on lockdown.   A cloud of uncertainty has descended upon us all, leading to fear. The global economy has gone into a tailspin. No matter what part of the world we live in, no matter what our nationalities, color, religion, culture, socio-economic status, we are all facing the same crisis to varying degrees all at the same time. Our common fear can also become a source of courage, resilience and hope.   The current epidemic is forcing us to acknowledge that we are a world of common problems and solutions. Crises and disasters evoke a sentiment of kindness and giving that manifests in charity and philanthropy to those in despair. Of course, this is much needed, but it tends to only last as long as the crisis and disaster remain in the news. These are acts of sympathy - when you feel the suffering of others or, empathy- when you feel the suffering of others as your own.   Today I saw an ordinary couple and their children cooking. Then the man with his mask on left to distribute the food to the homeless twice in the day. Millions of healthcare givers are risking their lives round the clock. This gives me hope.   A sustainable solution lies in igniting and globalizing compassion. Compassion goes beyond just sympathy or empathy. It is a strong feeling for the suffering of others as your own, along with a deep desire to take action to end it.   This present crisis is an opportunity to reinvigorate our inner power of compassion and enlarge its circle to every known and unknown being. It is not just the virus that is infectious, compassion too can be contagious.   As we are asked to self-isolate and feel frustrated we must ask, what about those children who have no home to self-isolate in? While we panic about how we can fill our fridges, what about the families with no fridge at all? While we worry about our jobs, what about the people who only eat when they earn money that day?   Decisions made by our leaders, actions taken by us and the discourses that ensue in the next few weeks will be crucial. They are going to shape the future of polity, economy, culture and morality. Development priorities will be recalibrated, individual freedom, privacy and human rights will be redefined. Conventional politics can also be transformed into compassionate politics.   In the last two weeks, policy makers have already released over three trillion USD in emergency support for the companies and people in the richest countries. That funding is needed and is important, but we also need to see the governments of the world come together and announce a rescue package for the most marginalized children - even if 20% of this support was targeted at the poorest people and families in the world it would save millions and millions of lives.   We are seeing debt assistance for some of the richest companies in the world, but what about the debt of the poorest countries who desperately need funds to fight this crisis! Cancelling the debt of the poorest countries would make all of humanity safer.   The truth is and always has been that we are all dependent on each other. The richest businessman is dependent on the poorest cleaner to keep him safe. Coronavirus is a stark reminder that the health of humanity is dependent on how well we can create healthcare systems for all our citizens.   Our future, your children's future will be best if we can show compassion to all in these scary and uncertain times. Whether it is marginalized people in your community or around the world, reach out with compassion and take action today, tomorrow and every day.   If we can find compassion in our hearts, from the tragedy of the COVID 19 pandemic we can act to help all of humanity and develop a more just and safer future for all. We humans are destined to live together. How we choose to live together, is up to us.   * Kailash Satyarthi is an Indian children's rights activist. He is a Nobel Peace Prize recipient and the founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan, the Kailash Satyarthi Children's Foundation and the Global March Against Child Labour. Visit the related web page
	COVID-19 and Minorities: A Test for Our Humanity by Joshua Castellino Executive Director at Minority Rights Group International   May 2020   The hold of the pandemic over people and economies across the world highlights two clear messages.   First, while the virus is potent, its ability to kill is weaponised by poor governance, yielding vastly different outcomes in similar circumstances. Egalitarian societies with the best candidate to govern (many women led) have fared better; societies where 'strongmen' seized power based on a rhetoric of fear, find themselves out of their depth in tackling issues that require skill and wisdom.   Second, how you experience the virus remains an accident of birth. While proximity to power and wealth is no guarantee against contagion, the flow of information, remedies and facilities generate different outcomes than for those far from sites of power.   We know the virus will kill many, disproportionally affecting the vulnerable, and societies have been alert to this, ensuring extra protection for the elderly, and those with underlying health conditions. But this is not the only kind of vulnerability that exists.   The last few years have seen our political space filled with the politics of division and hate. The formula is straightforward: find someone different, turn the majority against them, claim the levers of power, access the wealth beyond.   Leaders who trade on division and hate are not new they blight our goriest history pages. Their traction now is driven by two interrelated challenges: exceeding planetary boundaries creating grave existential uncertainties while increasing mechanization and depriving people of livelihoods.   The result is an angry mass unsure of how to survive, easily goaded into hate by powerful interests that generate narratives that speak to their anger and control their actions.   If these interests had solutions to climate change and job creation, the hate may be deemed a necessary, if unsavoury collateral. But they seek control for its own sake, making the most of the 'good times' while they last, not investing in long-term visions seeking to reorient societies to combat new realities.   This politics of hate, creating an us and them stands blatantly exposed by Coronavirus. Entrenched ossified structural discrimination has kept certain communities within our societies beyond the reach of rights.   They may not have shelters to stay home in; may not be able to access life-saving information to prevent spread; may not live in places where social distancing is possible and often live in subsistence conditions where lock-downs will kill them from hunger before the virus.   If exposed to contagion, they face another set of problems: lack of facilities for isolation; desperate imperatives to keep working to feed themselves and dependents; knowledge they will be sent to the back of the queue (if let into it at all) as overstretched health systems prioritize us over them, all driven by hate that has become endemic to societies, permeating mass consciousness.   At Minority Rights Group we have been working hard since the commencement of the pandemic. Our 160 partners globally represent the form of vulnerability I am referring to. They are out of preventative messaging loops due to media reach or language barriers, live in conditions that will not secure containment, are dependent on eking out subsistence from collapsing economies, and are terrified about relying on health systems that will discriminate against them.   Our activists around the world, who in 'normal times' see themselves fighting for system change to ensure the rights and dignity of everyone, irrespective of the accident of their birth, are now striving to pivot programmes to safeguard against the spread of the virus to vulnerable communities.   But there is room for many more to step in and help in generating the collaborative approach our governments seem incapable of articulating.   German President Frank-Walter Steinmeier called it right when he said this virus was a test of our humanity. Coming through it while leaving no one behind is the only route to success, even if this goes against the grain of recent hate politics.   Those leading the health response including the WHO need to listen to minority experiences in designing appropriate preventative guidance.   Telling communities in cramped environments to 'socially distance' is akin to sending out advice about restricting use of private swimming pools: irrelevant if you do not have one.   Generating bespoke guidance incorporating national health authorities, ensuring they administer services without prejudice and cater to different needs, is key to the salience of any advice, utility and adherence, but also in mitigation and eradication efforts.   Organisations such as the World Food Programme and the Red Cross/Red Crescent need to locate vulnerable groups and ensure they feature in their humanitarian efforts.   Governments need to safeguard against stigmatization, pay heed to vulnerability in directing health authorities and emergency services to their side, and ensure that health coverage is not dependent on individual status.   For many this is a material change from the usual blame game, the hollowness of which emphasizes the poverty of skill. Make no mistake, the death toll caused by this virus will come down to governance decisions. If left festering among scapegoated vulnerable communities, its presence will be prolonged creating systemic economic and social breakdown.   It is equally imperative to sensitise the public to document discrimination against vulnerable groups, so organisations can react swiftly, and spread word about this form of vulnerability so we can collectively protect communities in the short term and become conscious of how steadily we have been programmed to fail this test of humanity.   Beyond COVID-19 we must make our voices count in building inclusive societies where narrow identity confines will not determine our collective achievements, and where hate politics is identified as an anachronistic ideology that will not serve us in our collective hour of need when faced with these kinds of crises.   http://minorityrights.org/2020/05/14/covid-test-for-humanity/ http://www.cesr.org/confronting-covid-how-civil-society-responding-across-countries-minority-rights http://www.hrw.org/news/2020/05/12/covid-19-fueling-anti-asian-racism-and-xenophobia-worldwide   * UN Guidance note on countering Covid 19 related Hate Speech: http://bit.ly/2M1hgDs Visit the related web page
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