Policy response to COVID-19

POLICY RESPONSE TO COVID-19

The virus itself does not discriminate, but its impacts do, as the UN Secretary General has pointed out. There is increasing evidence from all parts of the world that the most affected by this health, food and economic crisis are the very same people who have been the most at risk before. The virus opens the eyes of the whole world to the horrific structural inequalities, discrimination, exploitation, racism and sexism that already reigned before, inadequately contested by public policies, and that now exacerbate the effects of the crisis on the most vulnerable in real time.

This page intends to gather all publications, statements, contributions and material related to the urgent need of a CFS global policy response to COVID-19. Since March 2019 the CFS has been generating spaces of debate on this pandemic and its impacts on food security and nutrition. As a result of the CFS Chair initiative, the HLPE has produced in 2020 an Issues paper on COVID-19, while policy dialogues events have took place at CFS throughout the year. The CSM, from its side, has been actively engaged and committed to bring to the CFS the urgent policy demands raising from the ground, as the global pandemic continued to impact millions of lives. The CSM has urged CFS members and participants to assume the political responsibility of this crisis, proposing CFS to draft a global policy response to the food crisis that can support governments in their national responses to the crisis. So far this request has remained unanswered.

CSM Reports on COVID-19
CLICK HERE TO READ THE REPORT!	CLICK HERE TO READ THE REPORT!	CLICK HERE TO READ THE REPORT!

CSM Statements on COVID-19
CSM preliminary messages for the CFS Advisory Group and Bureau Meeting on COVID-19 and its impacts on food security and nutrition (19 March 2020)	Preliminary CSM messages to the Extraordinary Meeting of the CFS Bureau and Advisory Group (31 March 2020)	CSM Key messages on COVID-19 and the policy response to avert the global food crisis (13 May 2020)

HLPE Reports relevant to COVID-19
Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition: developing effective policy responses to address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic (HLPE Issues paper) AR|FR|ES|RU|CH (September 2020)	Food Security and Nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030  (HLPE Report) AR|CH|ES|FR|RU  (June 2020)

CFS High-Level Events (13-15 October 2020)
CFS Chair Summary of the High-level Events October 2020	CSM Press release towards CFS High-level events 12 October 2020	CSM Side Event at CFS High-level events 15 October 2020
CFS Chair Summary and CFS High-Level events page	Global grassroots organizations demand radical transformation of food systems to tackle the impacts of COVID-19	COVID-19 impacts: a transgenerational and women’s viewpoint on food systems transformation

Relevant highlights
SR on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri 26 June 2020	CFS Chair Statement on COVID-19 19 March 2020	CSM Webinar “Learning about the COVID-19 crisis in the Committee on World Food Security” 16 April  2020
Will the CFS prevent the pending COVID-19 hunger crisis?	Read the statement here!	Access here the abstract, flyer and recording!

CFS Activities on COVID-19 and related CSM contributions and statements
CFS Advisory Group and Bureau meetings and meetings of the informal AG and Bureau working group on COVID-19 (2020-2021)	CFS Secretariat virtual event on “COVID-19: Food Security and nutrition responses by CFS Advisory Group members to avert a global food crisis” (13 May 2020)	CFS Open virtual event on “Resilient Food Supply Chains and Workers’ health during COVID-19” (21 July 2020)
Click here to find all background documents!