A/HRC/45/21 rapid plummet in tourism, 71 with long-term ripple effects. The projected global recession will hit these countries hard, with disproportionate consequences on their ability to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Preliminary forecasts point to the least developed countries growing by only 0.8 per cent in 2020, followed by a rebound of 4.6 per cent in 2021. However, it is plausible that there will be lasting outcomes and slow recovery as a result of the external demand shock.72 Fighting COVID-19 requires development partners and the least developed countries to enhance cooperation, in order to mobilize resources to preserve the latter’s capacity to deliver on minimum core human rights obligations and overcome major health- and development-related challenges. In April 2020, the SecretaryGeneral launched the United Nations COVID-19 Response and Recovery Fund. 73 Donor countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands, Norway, Slovakia and Switzerland, promptly committed to the Fund, which, as of May 2020, has funded projects in 19 least developed countries.74 South-South cooperation initiatives to fight COVID-19 include the India-United Nations Development Partnership Fund and Cuban medical support to Angola, Timor-Leste and Togo, among others. 45. The Group of 20 debt moratorium gave breathing space to the least developed countries, allowing them to focus on protecting the right to health, among other rights. 75 Additional efforts are necessary, however, mindful of the lessons learned from previous relief initiatives that imposed austerity measures and did not achieve debt sustainability in the least developed countries. The Secretary-General has proposed a three-phase approach to debt and COVID-19 that involves extending the standstill, providing debt relief and addressing structural issues in the international debt architecture. 76 This approach should safeguard the policy space of the least developed countries and strengthen their institutional capacities, which are critical to realizing the right to development. Moreover, the SecretaryGeneral has endorsed the six critical areas discussed at the High-level Event on Financing for Development in the Era of COVID-19 and Beyond: (a) enhance global liquidity so that developing countries have the resources needed to fight the pandemic; (b) prevent debt crises in all countries at risk, as such crises will undermine COVID-19 responses and sustainable development efforts for years to come; (c) engage private creditors in joint debt relief efforts; (d) align global financial systems with the Sustainable Development Goals; (e) end illicit financial flows; and (f) rebuild differently, and better. 77 2. Human assets 46. The human assets index is based on a health index and an education index. 78 It includes indicators related to the rights to health and to education. In order to be in accordance with international human rights standards, it should encompass assessments of availability, accessibility, acceptability and quality of education and health.79 47. Indicators relating to under-5 mortality, the maternal mortality ratio and the prevalence of stunting compose the health index. Human rights treaty bodies’ recommendations to the least developed countries have included guidance on these same indicators.80 Life expectancy at birth in these countries as a group falls 7.4 years behind the global average due to high child and maternal mortality rates, armed conflicts and HIV71 72 73 74 75 76 77 78 79 80 https://trade4devnews.enhancedif.org/en/op-ed/covid-19-hitting-tourism-hard-what-does-meanworlds-poorest-countries. www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wpcontent/uploads/sites/45/publication/WESP2020_MYU_Report.pdf; www.un.org/development/desa/dpad/wp-content/uploads/sites/45/publication/PB_66.pdf. www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/sg_response_and_recovery_fund_fact_sheet.pdf. Bhutan, Cambodia, Comoros, Gambia, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Kiribati, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Madagascar, Malawi, Mauritania, Nepal, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Solomon Islands, Timor-Leste, Tuvalu and Vanuatu. http://mptf.undp.org/factsheet/fund/COV00. https://g20.org/en/media/Documents/G20_FMCBG_Communiqu%C3%A9_EN%20(2).pdf. www.un.org/sites/un2.un.org/files/un_policy_brief_on_debt_relief_and_covid_april_2020.pdf. www.un.org/en/coronavirus/financing-development-statements. E/2020/33, paras. 37–41. Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, general comments No. 13, para. 6, and No. 14, para. 12. The Committee includes adaptability as an essential feature of the right to education. E.g. CRC/C/AGO/CO/5-7, CRC/C/NPL/CO/3-5 and Corr.1, E/C.12/KEN/CO/2-5, CRC/C/SEN/CO/3-5, CRC/C/HTI/CO/2-3 and CRC/C/TLS/CO/2-3. 11