DR Mohamed Irfaan Ali, president of the Republic of Guyana, has questioned whether Caribbean leaders have any interest whatsoever in making a concerted call for a “thorough global review of what took place in the COVID-19 pandemic” and for people to be held “responsible”.

Delivering the main address during day one of the Twelfth Sub-regional International Labour Organisation Meeting of Caribbean Labour Ministers, in Georgetown, Guyana on Tuesday morning, Dr Ali said while he doubted that this level of will existed, the question still needed to be asked.

“Will there ever be a thorough global, I don’t want to say investigation, but global review of what took place in the pandemic? And will people be held responsible? I guess not,” he remarked.

“Do we even want it? Have we even asked for it? If the oath of every scientist and every medical practitioner is to serve humanity faithfully without fear or favour, was that oath honoured? I am not saying it was not, all I am saying is that there are questions to be answered,” Dr Ali said in his thought-provoking address.

His comments come even as the Emergency Committee on COVID-19, following a meeting on May 4, advised the World Health Organization director general that the time had come to transition to long-term management of the COVID-19 pandemic. The WHO on May 5 declared an end to COVID-19 as a public health emergency, after more than three years.

Dr Ali, in the meantime, questioned whether the region is preparing its systems for the next pandemic, while pointing to the rapid migration of highly skilled workers from key areas such as the health sector, which came under severe pressure during the global health emergency.

“These conferences must not be bounded only by externalities; these conferences must be shaped by our own realities. We must pose the questions and we must advance our agenda,” he stated.

Addressing the theme of the forum ‘Social justice — the foundation for sustainable Caribbean transformation’, Dr Ali said “if we examine what is occurring in the world the question is, does social justice exist globally and is social justice really a priority in the global channel? Notwithstanding the lofty goals of the ILO, you still need to answer these questions”.

According to Dr Ali, the COVID-19 pandemic experience provided an uncomfortable answer to the question of whether social justice exists globally.

“The first global challenge the world faced, social justice was erased; it became a selfish enclave of protectionism. We must not forget that those who could not afford the vaccines are still waiting for the vaccines. Those who could afford the vaccines were told, ‘You are not priority in the line.’ We understand that every nation must protect their citizens but if social justice is a global concept then there should be global responsibilities,” he argued.

“Social justice cannot be an event or targets, and that is what we have allowed social justice to be — a set of measurable targets that we aim to achieve. Social justice should be a culture through which cultures, nations and societies are built,” he said further.

In rallying Caribbean ministers of labour attending the forum to press for assurances from the ILO body that the priorities of the region will be high on its agenda for answers to be provided, Dr Ali said, “in this region we do have priorities, we too have an agenda, we too have citizens, we too have realities, we too have circumstances, and it is time for us to use these forums to advance our cause as a people in this region”.

“The ILO must not escape this symposium without providing answers or without assuring this region that our priorities will be on the agenda for answers to be provided. I am presented with a host of facts and figures that I am supposed to repeat to you this morning but the construct of these facts and figures is built on an inequitable system that is void of social justice, and I will not succumb myself to these facts and figures,” he said.

The meeting — which will see the participation of ministers of labour from 13 ILO member states and nine non-metropolitan territories of the English- and Dutch-speaking Caribbean — will address global, regional, and national actions required to accelerate the mainstreaming of social justice for transformative socio-economic development in the current multi-crisis context. It will conclude on Thursday.