Oekusipost.com Dili - Almost all countries in the world have focused and worked together to fight the novel Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) but several other countries are still at war.
COVID-19 is a challenge that tests our care for humanity, and we support the UN Secretary General’s call for a global ceasefire.
This is a time to fight the common enemy, the pandemic, and save precious lives. We call upon all warring factions and parties to lay down their arms and work with governments, communities, civil society organizations and healthcare organizations to tackle the rapid spread of the disease”.
COVID-19 is putting a strain on public health systems worldwide. The Public Health Systems in fragile and conflict-affected countries are already constrained due to the lack of basic equipment and inadequate personnel to address their current situation. The COVID-19 pandemic will overwhelm public health systems in g7+ countries if the pandemic reaches a tipping point in these countries. Support from international humanitarian and development organizations to strengthen health systems in poor countries will help to save millions of lives.
“Noting current support, we call upon donor countries and organizations to scale up their assistance in line with the principles of New Deal For engagement in fragile countries to help these countries with more resilient health systems and responses to prevent, contain and recover from the pandemic”.
The g7+ also care for Displaced People stranded due to Border Closures.
We commend the hospitality of societies and countries hosting displaced people and migrants who are forced to embark on difficult journeys due to wars and natural disasters. The COVID-19 induced border closures are affecting the lives and safety of countless refugees and displaced people. We call upon governments and international organizations to care for their needs and safety, as they would for their own citizens, as a gesture of human solidarity and consistent with international obligations”. Support for Economic Recovery, Self-reliance, and the Sustaining Peace Agenda.
Fragile and conflict-affected countries are increasingly home to the world’s poorest and are in critical stages of their political and development transition.
These countries are already being hit the hardest by the economic downturn resulting from the COVID-19 outbreak. This has adversely affected the prospects for revenue generation in these countries, which will have a significant impact on their self-reliance. The trade and private sector are likely to be badly affected by this pandemic as experienced by the three g7+ countries during the 2014 Ebola outbreak.
We welcome the announcement by the World Bank of a $12 billion response package and by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to activate $50 billion through its rapid-disbursing emergency financing facilities. We also commend similar support by other regional Development Banks and other donors.
We call on development partners to provide sufficient resources to support the most fragile countries in their effort to contain the virus and recover from its impact.
We support the call for debt relief through waiving interest payments and using the Heavily Indebted Poor Country (HIPC) mechanisms for these countries as sustained peace and stability in conflict-affected countries remain the insurance for global peace and prosperity.
Social distancing and lockdowns will be very difficult to sustain due to the lack of viable economic safety nets, underdeveloped infrastructure, and the need for citizens to sustain themselves, especially in conflict zones. Landlocked Least Developed Countries (LDCs) that depend on the uninterrupted transit of goods will be particularly affected by the closure of borders. Therefore, we urge donors and nations in those regions to address the needs of these countries through targeted investments in food security, regional cooperation, technological innovation, and alternative sources of financing. (pr)
