Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Kosovo Roma children and their right to education during times of emerging crisis represent the black swan of COVID-19 and distance learning. There is a disparity between the theory and the practice of the Kosovar government to provide equal learning opportunities to Roma children.

In the context of migration, especially irregular and forced, the risk of children being exposed to the abuse of child labour is high. Migration itself contains all the elements that are otherwise defined as risks of children being exposed to this type of abuse: poverty, irregular school attendance, parental unemployment, etc.

For generations, African families, schools, religious sects and peer groups have tried to ‘convert’ those who identify as LGBTQ+ in an effort to force them to conform to the heterosexual narrative promoted as ‘homogeneous’. However, individuals undergo serious physical and psychological suffering in the name of this pseudo-therapy.

Whereas the COVID-19 pandemic adversely affected the human rights of all persons globally, society’s poor and vulnerable faced elevated risks. The plight of Zimbabwe’s informal traders during the COVID-19 induced lockdown is emblematic.

International bodies have warned that the world is a more difficult place for young people as a result of COVID-19. Three years on, children and young people are still suffering from mental health consequences. To prepare for future pandemics, a human rights approach and a new medical perspective on adolescent mental health should be provided.

Climate change and natural disasters' impact on IDPs in Asia-Pacific must be viewed from a climate justice perspective. A rights-based approach, prevention measures, and participation in decision-making are crucial in building a protection system for IDPs.

The absence of a legally binding instrument on IDPs protection, considering their unique vulnerabilities and needs, leaves a growing number of individuals in limbo. It is high time to create an innovative, holistic European convention on IDPs, adopting new lenses on human rights and related challenges.

COVID-19 provided a context to advocate for change in crisis response and recovery efforts. To ensure just and inclusive responses to future emergencies, it is crucial to retain this momentum by adopting a feminist human rights-based approach to preparedness, rather than feminised approaches followed in states such as Ireland and Germany.

In South Africa, the shifting from physical to virtual education due to COVID-19 has created inequalities among learners from urban areas who could continue with online schooling and learners from rural areas and also learners with disabilities who were deprived of their right to education.

It is time to step out of the yoke of the official narrative of Kosovo’s patriotic identity, to ignore it and offer in response other narratives, unofficial stories by ordinary people, narrations from the margins of the community affected by the war. Ultimately, non-monumental stories that belong to everyday life.