Support for human development must play an important role in the eradication of poverty and the achievement of the UN’s sustainable development goals, stresses the EU Council in conclusions on human development adopted on Monday 14 June.
It reiterates the importance of promoting human development as part of the EU’s external engagement.
The EU Council stresses that health and education are essential elements of human development and that systemic support to these sectors is crucial to ensure prevention and recovery, build resilience, promote stability and sustainable growth and mitigate the long-term impact of the pandemic on income loss and poverty.
The findings point out that the Covid-19 pandemic and its negative socioeconomic consequences have threatened the progress made in recent decades.
The EU Council stresses the need for continued EU and Member State support for the Covid-19 Accelerator (ACT-A) and Covax and for strengthening partner countries’ capacity to conduct vaccine deployment campaigns.
The pandemic has also threatened global food security, and social cohesion and could exacerbate inequalities. The EU Council therefore reiterates that recovery efforts must be people-centred and based on the principle/slogan ‘build back better and greener’. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)