Economic and Social Council: Press Release


ECOSOC/7039

With the number of new COVID-19 cases around the world nearly doubling over the past two months — approaching the highest infection rate observed during the pandemic — the unequal distribution of vaccines is not only a moral outrage, but economically and epidemiologically self-defeating, the head of the United Nations health agency told a special ministerial meeting of the Economic and Social Council today.

ECOSOC/7037

Poor countries are facing severe setbacks on their development paths, encumbered by ballooning debts, high risks of default and limited ability to inject desperately needed liquidity into their markets, economic experts told the Forum on Financing for Development today, as they offered ideas for ensuring a more equitable global recovery from the pandemic during three interactive panels.

ECOSOC/7036

The Economic and Social Council continued its annual Forum on Financing for Development today, holding two interactive panel discussions, during which speakers proposed potential solutions to COVID-19’s devastating impact on infrastructure investment — lagging even before the novel coronavirus struck — and sought ways to avoid a global post-pandemic recovery that leaves some behind.

ECOSOC/7034

With more than 19,000 participants joining virtually over its two-day session, the 2021 Economic and Social Council Youth Forum concluded today as the largest and most diverse gathering of young people in the United Nations history, amid calls to retain useful pandemic-era tools while addressing the structural inequities that have long held youth back from achieving their full potential.

ECOSOC/7033

After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Economic and Social Council Youth Forum reconvened today in a virtual format to mark its tenth anniversary, with speakers emphasizing the critical role that the world’s 1.8 billion young people can — and must — play in “building back better” and fulfilling the promise of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

WOM/2211

Pursuing gender equality cannot, and will not, be stopped by pandemics, sanctions, conflict, budget shortfalls or the perpetuation of conservative traditions, ministers and other Government representatives told the Commission on the Status of Women during a videoconference meeting on the penultimate day of its sixty-fifth session.

WOM/2210

Domestic violence hotlines and programmes aimed at closing gender pay gaps are among an array of tools several States are using to integrate women’s empowerment into national sustainable development strategies, delegates told the Commission on the Status of Women, as it continued its sixty-fifth session with an interactive dialogue and general discussion.