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SOUTHNEWS</span></h2>
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No. 344, 9 October 2020<br>
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<p style="text-align:left;color:#000000;font-family:Helvetica;font-size:12px;line-height:150%"><br>
<span style="color:#000000"><span style="font-size:25px"><b>The 74<sup>th</sup> UN General Assembly Adopts New Resolutions on COVID-19 Response</b></span></span></p>
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<div style="text-align:left"><span style="font-size:14px">On 11th September the United Nations (UN) General Assembly (GA) adopted an omnibus resolution titled "Comprehensive and coordinated response to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic" (document A/RES/74/306), and another resolution titled "United response against global health threats: combating COVID-19" (document A/RES/74/307). These resolutions follow the adoption of two previous resolutions by the General Assembly on "Global solidarity to fight the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)" and the resolution on "International cooperation to ensure global access to medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to face COVID-19." <a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftn1" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref1" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important"><sup><sup>[1]</sup></sup></a><br>
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<b>The Omnibus Resolution</b><br>
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The omnibus resolution provides an overview of the different areas that need to be considered as countries continue to address the ongoing pandemic but also as they design strategies to recover. Some of the critical aspects highlighted by the resolution include the need to address "the COVID-19 pandemic through a global response based on unity, solidarity and renewed multilateral cooperation." It recognizes the critical aspect of international cooperation and multilateralism and calls for solidarity in response to COVID-19. It also stresses the vital role of the World Health Organization (WHO) and the UN system in coordinating the response. <br>
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The resolution also makes a call upon the Member States to strengthen their health systems as well as social care systems and to strengthen their preparedness capacities. It also asks countries to continue addressing infectious diseases, in particular, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, malaria and hepatitis, and non-communicable diseases.<br>
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In terms of issues related to access to health technologies to address the COVID-19 pandemic, the resolution urges Member States to have "timely access to quality, safe, efficacious and affordable diagnosis, therapeutics, medicines and vaccines, and essential health technologies, and their components, as well as equipment, for the COVID-19 response" and "[r]ecognizes the role of extensive immunization against COVID-19 as a global public good." However, the recognition of immunization as a global public good is silent on health technologies like vaccines that are necessary to achieve this goal. The resolution does reaffirm the Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement and the Doha Declaration on Public Health that is supportive of the right of Member States to protect public health and promote access to medicines for all. This is an important acknowledgment that could encourage countries to fully utilize the flexibilities contained in TRIPS to ensure that needed health technologies are accessible to everyone who needs them.<br>
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The Resolution also acknowledges other very critical aspects of the response, including the need to ensure food and agricultural supply chains, the commitments to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the need to build and strengthen health systems, including the vital role of primary health. It also acknowledges the need to have a "One Health approach" that enhances cooperation between human, animal and plant health including the environmental aspect.<br>
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<b>Resolution on Combating COVID-19 </b><br>
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The second resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly calls for "an open, transparent, robust, coordinated, large-scale, science-based and inclusive global response in the spirit of solidarity" and emphasizes the need to focus on preventing emerging pandemic threats through building a global defense. This would include the sharing of information, epidemiological, clinical data and materials for research and development. The resolution also stresses the need to increase research and development funding for vaccines and medicines and expanding the manufacturing capacity of medical technologies and the need to make them available at an affordable price and on an equitable basis. The resolution also calls for engaging with international institutions and banks for sustainable pandemic preparedness, response and planning, including the need to strengthen the capacity of the health sectors in developing countries. This last point is particularly a welcome recognition of the challenges that developing countries face concerning strengthening their health capacity.<br>
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<b>Means of implementation?</b><br>
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These two UN resolutions, in a way, complement the efforts made at the World Health Assembly in May, which had adopted a resolution on COVID-19 (WHA 73.1) stressing the need to strengthen multilateral cooperation and global solidarity and the need to ensure universal, equitable and timely access to medical products, devices, vaccines and equipment, and the need to remove any obstacle to such access.<a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftn2" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref2" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important"><sup><sup>[2]</sup></sup></a><br>
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The UN Secretary-General has also, in several interventions in responding to the pandemic, remarked on the need to ensure that vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics for COVID-19 are universally affordable and available as global public goods.</span> <span style="font-size:14px"><a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftn3" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref3" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important"><sup><sup>[3]</sup></sup></a><br>
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However, this strong call by the UN Secretary-General has not necessarily been reflected in the calls made by the resolutions adopted by Member States of the UN. The UN General Assembly resolutions are an important global guiding instrument for action by the Member States and other relevant international organizations and provide the highest international commitments even though they are not binding in nature. However, for the General Assembly resolutions to provide effective guidance, it is essential that they also outline the necessary means of implementation. This would include the critical issue of transfer of technology, particularly in the context of vaccines and medicines, as one of the ways in which it will be possible for countries to increase capacity, particularly when it comes to manufacturing and ensuring wide availability of products. The efforts to increase capacity for pandemic preparedness would also need to be accompanied with the financial means so that international cooperation is directed to help developing countries to strengthen their health systems and their ability to respond to current epidemics and possible new threats.<br>
<br>
Even though there have been multiple calls at the WHO and now at the UN for global solidarity based response measures to ensure timely, equitable and affordable access to health technologies for addressing COVID-19, many countries are pursuing bilateral deals with companies that would hinder the ability of other countries to have timely access to vaccines. The Financial Times recently reported that several wealthy countries representing about 13% of the population of the world have already bought more than half of the doses of the leading vaccine candidates, which would make it even harder for other countries to access a vaccine.<a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftn4" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref4" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important"><sup><sup>[4]</sup></sup></a><br>
<br>
The UN General Assembly is currently discussing convening a special session on the Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) later in the year. This would be an opportunity for Member States to design a response to the crisis that provides a roadmap that truly commits to the principles laid down in the resolutions and, </span><span style="font-size:14px">for example, could include to make a call for firms to immediately license vaccine technology and intellectual property rights to the WHO COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP) and note that countries should use TRIPS flexibilities as necessary. Furthermore, this special session could provide concrete measures for recovery from the pandemic, for the continued implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and strengthening the means of implementation. </span>
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<div id="m_-2297151603833473863ftn1"><span style="font-size:14px"><a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref1" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftn1" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important">[1]</a> See more detail on the previous UN resolutions here: <a href="https://southcentre.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa9cf38799136b5660f367ba6&id=9c4e1bcecf&e=4fac633f11" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important" target="_blank">https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PB-81.pdf</a></span></div>
<div id="m_-2297151603833473863ftn2"><span style="font-size:14px"><a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref2" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftn2" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important">[2]</a> See information on the World Health Assembly resolution on COVID-19 here: <a href="https://southcentre.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa9cf38799136b5660f367ba6&id=b86f6e507b&e=4fac633f11" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important" target="_blank">https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/05/PB-78.pdf</a></span></div>
<div id="m_-2297151603833473863ftn3"><span style="font-size:14px"><a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref3" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftn3" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important">[3]</a> Nirmalya Syam, "UN General Assembly Resolutions on COVID-19: Solemn Assurances for Access to Health Technologies without an Action Plan”<i>,</i> South Centre Policy Brief 81 (July 2020). Available from <a href="https://southcentre.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa9cf38799136b5660f367ba6&id=f94b6360cf&e=4fac633f11" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important" target="_blank">https://www.southcentre.int/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PB-81.pdf</a>.</span></div>
<div id="m_-2297151603833473863ftn4"><span style="font-size:14px"><a href="#m_-2297151603833473863__ftnref4" name="m_-2297151603833473863__ftn4" title="" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important">[4]</a> See Financial Times report <a href="https://southcentre.us5.list-manage.com/track/click?u=fa9cf38799136b5660f367ba6&id=005008ccc9&e=4fac633f11" style="color:#6dc6dd;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:underline;word-wrap:break-word!important" target="_blank">https://www.ft.com/content/e5012891-58da-4a4f-8a05-182adf3ba0e2</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-size:14px"><i><b>Authors: Mirza Alas is Programme Officer and Nirmalya Syam is Senior Programme Officer of the Health, Intellectual Property and Biodiversity (HIPB) Programme of the South Centre. </b></i></span>
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