Webinar series | Humanitarian action at the time of COVID-19
Introduction
The world is currently in a global pandemic situation, first identified in December 2019. To date, the COVID-19 pandemic has killed more than 2 million people and more than 96 million cases have been reported worldwide.
Apart from the economic and public health crises with which the world is struggling, COVID-19 has brought a far-reaching and long-term global protection emergency. According to the United Nations Agency for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, 235 million people worldwide will need humanitarian assistance and protection in 2021, 40% more than in 2020.
The COVID-19 pandemic has added a new dimension to the protection challenges within humanitarian action. While some of the world’s most well-resourced countries have seen a drastic increase in demand for protection services, people in countries with pre-existing humanitarian crises are dealing with new protection threats, with fewer resources available to help to mitigate them.
In the current context, there is an increased risk of forced displacement, coupled with an increase in xenophobia and stigmatization, a dramatic increase in gender-based violence and discrimination in access to health, food, drinking water, education and legal services for these populations, especially vulnerable and marginalized groups.
Due to the increase in protection needs and the impact on access to services and respect for the human rights of the population in the most multi-affected countries, the humanitarian community faces important challenges, which we will address in the scheduled sessions.
Dates: 6th, 8th, 12th, 13th and 15th April | 15:30 to 17:00h.
Webinars:
- Resetting the international humanitarian system: what changes are needed? (EN-ES) – 6th April.
- New protection challenges: The value of feminist leadership (EN) – 8th April.
- Forced displacement: new challenges (ESP) – 12th April.
- Tools to improve the humanitarian response (FR) – 13th April.
- One year later: what have we learned from COVID-19 in the humanitarian field? – 15th April.
