Governments should consider civil society organizations as strategic partners in the fight
against the pandemic. As shown in table 1, over the past months, different social groups in many neighbourhoods of the region’s cities have stepped up self-care and collaboration based on affection, mutual trust, effective rules and networks. State policies must put these positive actions —which are a product of the social capital of the communities— at the service of the common good. The lessons learned with regard to self-care will be remembered after the pandemic and will be crucial social capital for recovery scenarios and for building social inclusion.
The State should also form or strengthen partnerships with the private sector, as well as
fostering business respect for human rights (OHCHR, 2011). Noteworthy initiatives have been implemented in the region in this regard, resulting in significant actions that have helped to purchase ventilators, other equipment and food (see table 2 and ECLAC, 2020h). Important measures have also been put in place in offices and factories, which have promoted teleworking, adjusted working hours and opening times, and set up special mechanisms for some social groups, such as pregnant women, older persons and health-care personnel.
E. Crisis recovery scenarios As the Prime Minister of Barbados mentioned as early as April, the pandemic requires moral
and transformational leadership that regulates individual and collective behaviour in relation to the common good and the duties it entails. As many have said, including the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, the pandemic undeniably poses a colossal challenge to leaders and requires coordinated action.
The COVID-19 pandemic has put States and governments in the limelight, in full view of the
world’s citizens, who are judging their performance in terms of infection control, identification and treatment of the sick, and the number of deaths. Once the pandemic is brought under control, the leaders and authorities of the governments of the region and the world will very likely be subjected to the most demanding scrutiny and in-depth and diligent inquiries into their work, and will be held accountable for their actions or omissions. This process will have political or legal effects; for example, legal action may be taken by citizens against the State, for medical malpractice or failure to provide care, as already seen in some European countries.
Given the magnitude of the pandemic and its impact on the economy and on society, among
other areas, unprecedented accountability processes may be launched. In fact, both the press and specialized scientific journals are already publishing observations based on comparative analysis of the methodologies and public policies that governments have applied. In addition, universities and internationally prestigious institutions have created rankings of national health system performance, highlighting the countries that have achieved the best results in terms of reducing the rate of infection and controlling COVID-19. At the end of the pandemic, there will be sufficient information to evaluate the performance of health systems, and all the social and economic decisions that were made. A number of articles in the international press, for example, have already begun to rank political leaders according to their response to the crisis, and have defined parameters of good leadership in this unprecedented context.
Contrasting with the negative perspective on the economic and social effects of COVID-19,
there are notable commendations of the rapid social transformation that has taken place in during the pandemic and the newfound appreciations and adaptive behavioural changes, as well as the reduction in greenhouse gases and the recovery in the quality of bodies of water, among other aspects. Taking an optimistic view, it is argued that these months will form the basis for social change and the shift in public policies that are needed to address the climate emergency, according to the major global agreements, such as the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement.
cross-sectional analysis was performed of key issues; and at the third Global Forum (Cities and Coronavirus: Urban Epicentres of the Pandemic), there was a discussion of the characteristics of local government responses to the pandemic, in particular in Lombardy (Italy), Madrid, New York (United States) and Guayaquil (Ecuador).
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