COVID-19 Updates

As the novel coronavirus continues to spread across the world, close to four billion people in over 90 countries are under mandatory lockdowns. The virus has in its wake taken both tens of thousands of lives and millions of livelihoods. Countries continue to grapple with the challenges of testing, quarantines and lack of medical facilities and equipment. It is also evident that global trade and national economies will take a much worse battering than expected. Focus created this special section of the website to capture some of the impacts of COVID-19 in Asia

Latest Articles/Statements

Corporate-Controlled Global Food Supply Chains Must Go

The global food system has been very much front and center in the COVID-19 story. Everyone, of course, is aware that hunger is closely tracking the virus as its wreaks havoc in both the global North and global South. Indeed, one can say that, unlike in East Asia,...

Open Letter to the Biden Administration on the Need for a Pandemic Pivot

by Focus on the Global South Ally/Friend/Partner | Jan 25, 2021

It’s urgent not to return to the previous status quo. It’s time for creative thinking and bold action. Congratulations on your victory in the U.S. presidential election in November. You will be taking office at a critical moment in U.S. and world history. You have an...

RCEP an unjust deal and added burden in the time of a pandemic

by Focus on the Global South Team | Nov 15, 2020

Trade Justice Pilipinas statement on the signing of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement: In the midst of a global pandemic and despite strong peoples’ opposition, governments are set to sign today the Regional Comprehensive Economic...

Asian Network pushes stronger TNC regulations at the UN amidst pandemic

by Focus on the Global South Ally/Friend/Partner | Oct 28, 2020

Amidst the challenges posed by the Covid-19 pandemic, the negotiations towards a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises and human rights commenced Monday, 26th of October in Geneva, with participation from States,...

Impacts of COVID-19 on Small-Scale and Traditional Fishers and Fishworkers in India

by Ayantika Das | Oct 8, 2020

Case Study for CSM Covid Report, October 2020 What impacts is COVID-19 (including measures put in place by the authorities) having on food systems, food security and the right to food ? The government of India imposed a 21 day lockdown on the midnight of 23 March...

Case Study on COVID-19 and Small-Scale Food Producers in India

by Ranjini Basu | Oct 8, 2020

October 2020 What impacts is COVID-19 (including measures put in place by the authorities) having on food systems, food security and the right to food? Indian policy makers are erroneously promoting the perception that Indian agriculture is the ‘bright spot’ in the...

COVID-19 Snapshots from Asia

by Shalmali Guttal | Oct 8, 2020

Synthesis of Inputs and Testimonies of the Impacts of COVID-19 on Food Security in Asia Prepared for the CSM Global Synthesis Report on COVID-19. October 2020 Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has made visible the stark realities of long-standing, multi-generational...

COVID-19, Distorted Development, and Degrowth

by Walden Bello | Oct 7, 2020

The following paper was presented at the Chulalongkorn University Social Research Institute's Webinar "Sustainable Social and Economic Recovery after COVID-19" on September 17, 2020. What I’d like to do is focus on some economic vulnerabilities exposed by COVID-19 and...

The subversion of the Philippines’ Indigenous People’s Rights Act

by Walden Bello | Oct 7, 2020

The following paper was presented under the title The Philippines’ Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Act of 1997: Challenges to Realizing the Full Potential of a Progressive Law at a discussion on the crafting of a law to advance the rights of indigenous people in Thailand,...

Collective struggle, collective strength

by Focus on the Global South Team | Oct 7, 2020

By Galileo de Guzman Castillo, Joseph Purugganan, and Bianca Martinez As we commemorate today the International Day of Peace, let us all stand in solidarity with various peoples’ movements and learn from the grassroots communities the importance of analyzing the roots...

Our disease is landlessness

by Focus on the Global South Team | Oct 7, 2020

Cambodian farmer Oum Samorl and her family lost their farm to a corporate land grab 15 years ago. They have never stopped feeling the loss, especially during the pandemic. Oum Samorl remembers the day in June 2006 when tractors invaded her family’s farm in Cambodia’s...