By Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General A lethal combination of disease, extreme climate events and economic crises is threatening the smallest and most vulnerable nations of the world. To tackle it, we must overhaul how we understand and address economic vulnerability. The COVID-19 pandemic has already triggered a massive global recession. Meanwhile, a record number of […]
Joint reflexions by United Nations Senior African Officials (*) A desperate yearning for a long-departed mother. Reaching deep from the bowels of fragile humanity. Grasping for breath. Begging for mercy. The entire world heard the tragic cry. The family of nations saw his face pounded against the harsh tarmac. Unbearable pain in broad daylight. A […]
By Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General 09 June 2020 Today I received a message from a parent. Her nine-year-old son, Oscar, had been sitting in his living room during the Covid-19 lockdown, watching coverage of protests, sparked by the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis in the United States. He was perplexed and sat glued to his […]
By Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General The widespread destruction wreaked by Tropical Cyclone Harold in several Pacific countries just days ago has been nothing short of heart-breaking. At least 32 people have died, while more than 45,000 men, women and children in Vanuatu’s hardest-hit province, Sanma, are now homeless. In Tonga, hundreds of businesses and homes were […]
By Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General 30 March 2020 Five years ago more than 40 babies born in Jamaican hospitals became infected with lethal bacteria – half of them died. The bacteria Klebsiella, like the coronavirus, is spread from person-to-person or via contaminated surfaces. It can be killed by hand-washing with warm soapy water. The situation caught […]
By Patricia Scotland, Commonwealth Secretary-General Trade wars, protectionism, and nationalist rhetoric are combining to weave the possibility of a nightmare debt crisis that could be worse than any previously experienced. Global borrowing is now at the highest levels since the 1950s – and history suggests we should take this as a warning that a debt […]
