2020 has been a year like no other. COVID-19 turned our lives upside down as it tore through the world, leaving severe illness and death in its path. As New York City became the pandemic’s North American epicenter in the early months of 2020, UN Headquarters was forced to shutter. But our global efforts continued apace, as we quickly shifted toward remote work and digital technologies to deliver the support that countries needed.
With communities locked down, the global economy faltered. The mid-year forecast revealed in the UN’s World Economic Situation and Prospects, predicted a loss of nearly $8.5 trillion in output over the next two years, marking the sharpest contraction since the Great Depression in the 1930s. The ensuing impact on lives and livelihoods bordered on catastrophic.
“We are facing a global health crisis unlike any in the 75-year history of the United Nations — one that is spreading human suffering, infecting the global economy and upending people’s lives,” UN Secretary-General António Guterres said in these early days, as he addressed the media. “We must recognize that the poorest and most vulnerable — especially women — will be the hardest hit.”
From the start, UN DESA’s experts have closely monitored the crisis, putting a spotlight on the systemic fragilities that the crisis magnified and fielding policy recommendations to help the world navigate towards a sustainable recovery. Through some 30 policy briefs the Department targeted the most critical issues, addressing inequalities, fiscal stimulus plans to protect the most vulnerable, the role of digital government, science, and the fact that the 17 global goals are our best option to recover better.
These data, analysis and recommendations were taken to the regional and country level through capacity-building workshops and webinars and continue to be shared globally through a series of online dialogues. The dialogue series brings UN DESA’s analysis together with the views and thoughts of expert stakeholders and affected constituencies, to help foster truly inclusive solutions.
“In our darkest hours, we must strengthen multilateralism and global dialogues to rekindle the spirit of mutual trust, unity, partnership and interdependence,” said UN DESA’s Under-Secretary-General Liu Zhenmin. “We must confront the onslaught of the pandemic with fortitude, resolve and unity, not with fear, division and despondence. The history of humanity is the history of triumph against all odds. This time will be no different,” he said.
For more information: UN DESA Annual Highlights Report 2019-2020
Photo: UNDP Bangladesh/Fahad Kaizer
