G2H2 Annual Report 2023
Dear Members and Friends
2023 was a trying year for billions of people across the globe. It was marked by a sharp worsening of the global cost of living crisis that commenced in 2022, the exacerbation of violent conflicts and wars in countries like Ukraine, Yemen, Haiti and the DRC and the fresh flames of war in Sudan, and in Gaza, where almost 20,000 people, most of whom were women and children, were killed between 7 October and the end of the year. writ large
In the midst of this disenchanted world of sorrow, tears and blood, negotiations in the World Health Organization for the review of the International Health Regulations and formulation of a Pandemic Agreement took centre stage in international health politics. Unfortunately, the lines of division, which have stalled finalisation of outcome texts for the 77th World Health Assembly that has just closed, have been largely along the lines of the “vaccine apartheid” that marred the COVID-19 pandemic response.
The civil society movement’s intervention in shaping the discourse and decision-making within established international structures is scrupulously contained in this landscape, even when there is formal acquiescence for limited participation, in the WHO and the UN system at large. And this is not only because of the constricted space for meaningful engagement, which we closely assessed in our collective reflections during the Evian retreat that we speak more on below. It is also because the more powerful countries in the world have shown utter contempt for a coherent and reliable rules-based international order, picking and choosing which norms they uphold and when, only when it suits them. We also happen to be increasingly confronted with the reality of civil society heterogeneity. The histories of different strands of the movement’s tapestry, even when we have shared purposes, have been forged within the contexts of different narratives and positionalities on pivotal moments in world history.
Complex situations like those defining the times we are living through are problematic. But they also present us with opportunities to shift what has become our shared narrative as humankind, at the very least. Indeed, concrete steps we take today, as small as they appear to us, could actually contribute to changing the course of human history. And if they do not, they become messages in the bottle for coming generations to draw inspiration and lessons from, in their quests to leave the world better than that we might have bequeathed them.
As critical segments of civil society, we must question where we are, and how we can make positive difference. Seeking what is true and speaking the truth to ourselves as much as to power, even when this is inconvenient must be cardinal elements of our compass.
These assumptions informed both convening and advocacy actions we took with you as members and member organisations of G2H2 over the year, outside our annual routine such as the Evian Retreat and the Steering Committee’s statement on the war on Gaza, as a preliminary move to better reflect how the climate of warfare connects to us, and the struggle for health for all.
We must and want to continue in such self-critical manner and even more so, now. And we must not be afraid to face the truth we confront.
For example, it took the discussion on the indefensible situation in Gaza to draw our attention to the fact that we had unwittingly been agnostic in practice in speaking on the increasing devastation of wars and violent conflicts across the world. From Ethiopia to Ukraine, Haiti to Sudan, Yemen to the Democratic Republic of Congo, the world in flames continues to undermine the realisation of the right to health and indeed the right to life itself. And an undercurrent of coloniality continues to shape the dynamics of these wars and the solutions that are touted by world leaders.
This same undercurrent permeates other theatres of politics. War, as Clausewitz once reminded us, is politics by other means. And at the heart of politics is power and negotiations. This is no less so, with the ongoing negotiations in the WHO to review the International Health Regulations and draft a Pandemic Accord. We will continue to uphold the primacy of human life and dignity for all over the profit and powerful interests of the few, in all facets of our troubled world. Our clarion call for the right to health and the building of a better and peaceful world will inform our interventions on wars, and states’ negotiations alike.
As we hold our 8th Annual General Meeting, we salute you all once again. These are indeed rough times. And they are times which are crucial for us to be bold with our thoughts, demands and actions. We must remember that half a year after we joined the world in demanding an immediate ceasefire in Gaza, the bombardment has not abated. Instead, the body count has doubled. The war on Gaza is emblematic and we must not be quiet until the war is stopped.
Let us conclude this preface to the 2023 Annual Report expressing our most convinced and profound appreciation of the Geneva Office of the Rosa Luxembourg Foundation and the warmly supportive partnership we have forged with them over the last three years. Without them, most of the bold activities pursued by G2H2 would not have been possible. Thank you!
We reconfirm our stubborn solidarity with the oppressed, wherever they are.
Baba Aye and Nicoletta Dentico
G2H2 Co-Presidents, June 2024