Join us and the Fabian International Policy Group for a discussion on the Pandemic and the Global South with Shadow Justice Minister Bambos Charalombous MP.

Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MQBU8hwISaGI7-nWMZxLyQ

The head of the UN’s food agency has warned of widespread famine “of biblical proportions” because of the coronavirus pandemic. COVID-19 has shut down the modern global economy, causing a devastating impact on international aid, especially in the Global South. As countries at varying stages decide which countermeasures to continue whilst lifting lockdowns, those in aid-targeted countries are being the hardest hit.

An already diminished GDP in the UK, as worldwide, makes for less spending in real terms for focused external projects which are already clearly regressing, with sociopolitical divides widening, corruption increasing, and stability diminishing. NGO portfolios typically funded by donors such as the British government need to be strengthened to ensure that conflict prevention, peacebuilding, human rights and other long-standing structural priorities are not shelved. Bambos recently wrote to the Secretary of State for International Development and will be looking at the possibility of expediting vaccines to vulnerable groups in low and middle income countries, Labour's priorities on international aid and the UK’s response, bilaterally and with the international community, to the spread of coronavirus to developing countries.

Speaker: Bambos Charalombous MP
Chair: Cecilia Eve J, policy advisor and former leader of two international NGO programmes.

After questions from the chair, we will open up to an audience Q and A where your questions and input are most welcome.

This event is free and open to all.