UN Security Council calls for Covid-19 ceasefires
The UN Security Council has called for a humanitarian ceasefire in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Security Council unanimously passed resolution 2532 on 1 July 2020, calling for “a durable humanitarian pause for at least 90 consecutive days, to enable the safe, unhindered and sustained delivery of humanitarian assistance, and provision of related services by impartial humanitarian actors, in accordance with the humanitarian principles of humanity, neutrality, impartiality and independence.”
The resolution echoes the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire to enable health responses to the pandemic, which he made in a speech on March 2020. Over 170 states supported the call, as did other peacebuilding and religious organisations, and a number of armed actors and states responded by declaring or agreeing ceasefires.
PSRP has been closely following the ceasefire call as part of our research into the effects of the pandemic in conflict-affected areas. We are tracking global ceasefires that have been called as a result of Covid-19, and combining this with our existing knowledge on ceasefires and specific country contexts to assess the varied outcomes and implications of these ceasefires. More information on our research is forthcoming in early July.
Read more about our Covid-19 research on the peace-conflict-Covid-19 nexus.
Image: JasonParis on Flickr (CC BY)