Davos Forum: Oxfam denounces "the inequality virus" in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic
The Davos World Economic Forum will open by videoconference on Monday, January 25, 2021. AP - Markus Schreiber
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As every year, on the eve of the World Economic Forum meeting in Davos, Oxfam publishes its report on inequalities in the world.
The opportunity for the NGO to denounce once again the gap between the richest and the poor.
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By denouncing "the virus of inequalities", Oxfam is once again very severe in its observation of disparities in the world.
And for good reason: according to the NGO, the 1,000 richest people on the planet have regained their pre-pandemic level of wealth in barely nine months, where it will take more than ten years for the poorest to recover. of the impacts of the Covid-19 crisis.
Used to shock comparisons,
Oxfam
reveals that the top ten billionaires in the Forbes ranking alone have seen their total fortune increase by $ 540 billion since the start of the pandemic.
A sum amply sufficient in the eyes of the NGO to finance the vaccine against Covid-19 for all and prevent anyone from falling into poverty because of this crisis.
► To read also: Social crisis, survival of humanity: what makes the Davos elite tremble
“
There was in developing countries, one in two workers who were poor according to the ILO, 75% of workers who did not have access to social protection such as unemployment benefits or sick leave, according to the ILO. He ILO, and three billion people who had no access to any health coverage,
lists Quentin Parrinello, spokesperson for Oxfam France.
This is why we are calling, not only in France but also in developing countries, to strengthen safety nets, strengthen social minima, strengthen investment in essential services and in particular health, to ensure that our economy is more resilient in the face of the crisis and in the face of the next crises, because we know that it will not be the last to be faced
”.
A first session by videoconference
It remains to be seen whether the major economic and political decision-makers who virtually meet this week around the
Davos
agenda
will be sensitive to these shocking figures.
The theme chosen for these meetings, "
a crucial year to rebuild confidence
", is in any case revealing of the concerns of the moment.
Pandemic obliges, this first session of "Davos" will be virtual and will take place by videoconference before being transported in May to Singapore, far in the upscale Swiss ski resort where usually takes place the event created in 1971 by the German professor Klaus Schwab .
It is indeed difficult for the organizers of the World Economic Forum to go completely virtual.
For the big bosses who pay thousands of euros for their entrance ticket, the interest of the event lies less in the official program than in the deals concluded in the shelter of opulent hotels.
Maybe next year we'll have a normal season and the Forum can take place.
But this winter season is definitely lost.
The Davos Forum by videoconference, a blow to the resort's local economy
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