Policy Papers

COVID-19 has exacerbated Asia’s crisis of extreme inequality, which is undermining growth and preventing poverty eradication. Asian governments have done almost nothing to combat this rise in inequality and are constrained in their policy choices as debt burdens grow and post-COVID austerity begins.

Across Europe and the world, people are facing rising energy bills and inflation driven by the Ukraine war and the aftermath of the pandemic. Meanwhile, big business in every sector, not just energy, are raking in extremely high and excessive profits.

Notre système alimentaire mondial inégalitaire n’est viable ni pour les populations ni pour la planète. Nous devons de toute urgence repenser la manière dont le monde nourrit ses habitant·es.

Our unequal global food system is unsustainable for people and planet. We urgently need to rethink how the world feeds its people.

Climate change is deepening hunger in 10 of the world's worst climate hotspots: Afghanistan, Burkina Faso, Djibouti, Guatemala, Haiti, Kenya, Madagascar, Niger, Somalia and Zimbabwe. These countries – which had the highest number of UN appeals driven by extreme weather events – have repeatedly been battered by extreme weather over the last two decades. 

Between 15 March and 17 June 2022, the European Court of Human Rights granted 14 interim measures in a series of cases of newcomers in the Evros region, ordering the Greek authorities to rescue them and provide them with food, water and adequate medical care. However, the decisions of the Court were respected in only three of the cases, all others were pushed back to Turkey.

The world has entered a new and dangerous era of climate change impacts, causing huge loss and damage and driving up inequality in the world’s poorest countries that have contributed least to the climate crisis. Yet, new research by Oxfam estimates that nearly half of funding requirements for UN humanitarian appeals linked to extreme weather have gone unmet.

Inequality, already extreme before COVID-19, has reached new levels. There is an urgent need for governments to implement highly progressive taxation measures that in turn must be used to invest in powerful and proven measures to reduce inequalities.

Over a decade since Somalia experienced a devastating famine that killed over a quarter of a million people, another famine is looming in East Africa. Despite various warnings and alarms over the past two years, we are once again responding too late and with too little to avert the crisis. The humanitarian system must evolve in order to enable and fully fund anticipatory action.

The COVID-19 pandemic has worsened the extreme inequality in Southern African Development Community countries, and pushed millions into poverty. Recovering from the pandemic, however, offers SADC governments a once-in-a-generation opportunity to do reduce inequality drastically and eliminate extreme poverty by 2030.