The share of labor income has fallen due to the pandemic. Top news of the day | Wednesday: Gaza, Ukraine, China, inequality UN
Top news of the day in the UN and in the world: The first phase of the vaccination campaign has ended in Gaza, the attack on Lviv has killed seven people, the Secretary-General is on a visit to China, social inequality is growing in the world.
Vaccinations in Gaza
The first phase of the polio vaccination campaign has ended in Gaza. Over the course of three days, more than 189,000 children under the age of 10 in the central part of the strip received the first dose of the vaccine, which exceeds the previously set goal. Tomorrow, immunization will begin in the southern districts of the enclave, where vaccines are already arriving. After that, it is planned to vaccinate children in northern Gaza. And in four weeks, the second phase of the campaign should begin, when children will receive the second dose of the vaccine. According to UN agencies, the humanitarian pauses agreed upon during the immunization were observed by the parties to the conflict.
Strike on Lviv
The UN once again reminds about the need to protect civilians in Ukraine from the consequences of military actions. The statement was made against the backdrop of the escalation of Russian attacks across the country. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at least seven people were killed in Lviv on Wednesday as a result of a Russian strike. The day before, the shelling of Poltava led to the deaths of dozens of people. The UN recalled that many internally displaced persons from other regions of the country live in Lviv.
UN Chief in China
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres is on a visit to Beijing, where he will take part in the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation. Earlier, the UN chief met with Chinese Vice Premier Ding Xuexiang, as well as with the UN team in the country. Tomorrow, Guterres will speak at the opening ceremony of the Forum, where he will emphasize that cooperation among countries of the Global South is essential to achieving progress towards global development goals.
Rising Inequality
The gap between labor income and returns to capital continues to widen, while a large share of the world’s youth remains unemployed, out of education and training, warns a new report from the International Labor Organization (ILO). The global labor income share fell by 0.6 percent between 2019 and 2022 and has remained stable since then. The pandemic was a key driver of the decline in income, while returns to capital continue to be concentrated among the richest.