The Philippines has proposed five critical areas for urgent global action that can help countries recover from COVID-19 during the recent high-level meeting to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
NEDA Undersecretary for Policy and Planning Rosemarie Edillon, who represented the Philippines in the virtual high-level segment of the ECOSOC meeting, proposed actions that include ensuring vaccine equity, developing a common digital vaccination certificate, collaborating for developing online learning platforms and resources, institutionalizing knowledge exchange, and ensuring access to food and essential goods to truly achieve a sustainable and resilient recovery for all, without leaving no one and no country behind.
“This is exactly the time we need to believe in our collective strength to do better,” Edillion said in her remarks during the ECOSOC meeting held last July 16.
Edillon also called for recalibration of national development goals to steer transformation towards equity and resilience and appealed for stronger global mechanisms that will address both the delays in production and distribution of vaccines and the intellectual property rights restrictions that prevent scaling up of production.
The synchronize global vaccination program among countries, Edillion expressed hope that the ECOSOC, one of the principal agencies tasked to coordinate economic and social fields of the UN, would consider establishing a simple yet globally recognized digital vaccination certificate that contains secured data that can be verified.
The COVID-19 pandemic became the center of this year’s ECOSOC High-Level Segment, discussing its impact on the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
At the same time, the high-level meeting provided the space for ECOSOC and delegations to present innovative ideas that could contribute on how best to improve multilateralism in the area of sustainable development while celebrating the Council’s positive impact during its 75 years of existence.