I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me. As I don't have a lot of time, I'll get straight to the point.
In response to your request, I've concentrated essentially on an analysis of the marginalization of communities and populations by the current situation. I'll talk about five observations and two recommendations.
The first observation shows that the pandemic appears to have had far fewer direct health consequences in poor countries than in rich countries. By "direct consequences" I mean health- and mortality-related issues directly associated with COVID-19. In fact, apart from some major exceptions, which are Peru, Brazil, Mexico and Ecuador, excess mortality, particularly in Africa and several regions in Latin America and Southeast Asia, is indeed much lower than observed in OECD countries. Where data are less reliable, in particular screening data, we use excess mortality as an indicator, along with cemetery counts and inventories. This provides a degree of rigour in the statistical data we use.
The second observation shows that if direct health consequences are below expectation, then the indirect consequences, as Professor Percival mentioned, are already observable. They will also have significant and lasting impacts on marginalized populations, including those that are victims of conflict. This growing vulnerability has been exacerbated since the early months by the withdrawal of humanitarian supply chains and by a significant drop in direct foreign investment, including a 28% decline in Africa and 25% in Latin America and the Caribbean. This drop is much less significant in Asia, which ia a reflection of the economic influence of China in the region.
The third observation is that the indirect impacts that exacerbate these vulnerabilities are very well documented. We were able to see this on numerous occasions in interviews we conducted recently. Among other things, trust in institutions was being seriously eroded, further stoking social tensions and conflicts owing to these growing inequalities. This was the case in Guatemala and Colombia, and in Zimbabwe, Gambia and Togo in Africa,.
As for access to health care, the International Committee of the Red Cross noted a few weeks ago that 30% of clinics had been destroyed in Mali by armed groups ifollowing the withdrawal of international humanitarian organizations. Another key vulnerability is food insecurity. This situation is well documented. In fact it was reported on in this committee. At the risk of repeating myself, I would like to point out that 55 million people were experiencing food insecurity problems in September. We are now speaking of 220 million people suffering from food insecurity as a direct result of the pandemic. I believe these figures were published yesterday. It's a major increase and truly a real-time analysis.
The fourth observation is that displaced populations, meaning those who are often called "migrants", today represent over 80 million people. As you know, some of them have refugee status. Displaced populations, migrants or those with refugee status are also extremely marginalized by this situation. The pandemic has led to the closing of most international borders, and hundreds of thousands of people are gathered at borders just about everywhere on the planet.This situation, which has unfortunately been observed in the Middle East and the Horn of Africa, significantly reduces access to health care and food.
The situation in Venezuela is also extremely serious. In recent months, 100,000 Venezuelans returned to the country. They had to because the border was closed owing to an economy that is literally in ruins, as it is in neighbouring countries like Colombia too. I feel an obligation to make this committee aware of the situation in the Las Claritas region, which is also in Venezuela. It's a vast Amazonian mining region in the State of Bolívar that is controlled by armed groups and traffickers. Las Claritas is also an ecological disaster, and a place where slavery, torture and murders go unpunished, as has been well documented in the context of illegal gold mining operations. The pandemic has made this zone more vulnerable than ever. The absence of local authorities, who are either accomplices or corrupt, and the trafficking in migrant Indigenous and other Venezuelans, have also been well documented.
My final observation was briefly addressed by my colleague. In the overall context I have just described, women remain the most vulnerable population. As we know, sexual violence has increased dramatically.
There are 7 million unwanted pregnancies in the world this year that are linked to the pandemic . These are clearly alarming figures.
I will now move on briefly to my conclusions, because my time is running out.
My first recommendation is related to the fact that it is important for Canada to maintain its leadership role in connection with the humanitarian localization agenda, which I took the liberty of translating into French as "l'agenda de la localisation humanitaire".
As you know, this approach to the localization of humanitarian aid, to which Canada has belonged since the "Grand Bargain" agreed upon at the 2016 World Humanitarian Summit held in Istanbul, was to transfer resources to local authorities. It has been clearly demonstrated that decentralization is the key to achieving sustainable humanitarian responses.
My second recommendation is related to the importance of scientific cooperation to provide universal non-protectionist access to vaccines. The current international humanitarian situation undeniably needs a vision of solidarity to ensure access to vaccines for everyone.
To conclude, I'm among those who think that the long-term indirect repercussions of the pandemic will be more serious than the pandemic itself. These repercussions are tied among other things to socio-economic inequalities, conflicts, famines, shrinking democratic space and the erosion of protection for women's rights.
I'd be glad to discuss and answer any questions you may have.
Thank you.