Is the Pandemic Setting the Stage for Strategic Military Gain? With media attention prioritising COVID-19, and with the withdrawal of in-country staff, we have witnessed actors take this opportunity to commit acts such as the armed-attack on a maternity ward in Afghanistan,В and the bombing of health care facilities in Syria. Despite this, health architecture is continually targeted as a tactic of war and due to the pandemic, these events have become increasingly more difficult to monitor. International humanitarian law and human rights law is enacted to protect health personnel and facilities during times of conflict. How humanitarian actors engage and negotiate with multiple parties is critical to delivering any assistance and practice that might aid in containing outbreaks. States and armed non-state actors are obligated to facilitate impartial humanitarian assistance to those that need it. Under international humanitarian law, both states and armed non-state actors are bound to protect health care personnel, transportation and health facilities. With most international assistance being pledged in support of state-led responses, this leaves behind many vulnerable communities. The threat of of the pandemic adds to the complexities of negotiating safety for those living in areas of active conflict or within communities under the control of armed non-state actors. If the humanitarian sector is incapable of scaling-up, millions more people will be more at risk of the catastrophic conditions that are exacerbated by both COVID-19 and conflict.Дeclining humanitarian access and reduced adherence to international humanitarian law has been exacerbated by the distraction of COVID-19. In Yemen, more than 80% of the population are in need of aid and protection,В yet since the beginning of 2020, the number of Yemeni people reached with assistance is decreasing by the millions on a monthly basis. This threatens the funding of life-saving assistance, impacts the availability of food and basic necessities, limits humanitarian access, and halts peacebuilding efforts and operations. The pandemic has disrupted humanitarian aid supply chains on a global scale. Image credit: Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO)Д®xacerbation of New and Existing VulnerabilitiesД¬OVID-19 has created new vulnerabilities whilst exacerbating existing ones. Peace processes could also be strengthened by leveraging the women, peace and security agenda as a framework for brokering lasting ceasefires. Ceasefires can be understood to be quite interim and prone to lapsing if they arenвЂ™t accompanied by appropriate peace processes. Advances of humanitarian ceasefires can be fragile and reversible, and whilst the overarching global goal is that of securing lasting peace, life-saving assistance is prioritised over sustainable peace dialogues. Typically, humanitarian ceasefires are negotiated to allow for the provision of health and humanitarian assistance. Ceasefires are an integral aspect to peace processes, however when they are negotiated for humanitarian purposes, serious questions arise as to whether these kinds of agreements can create sustainable and lasting peace. The global callВ for a COVID-19 ceasefire was heard by Libya, Colombia, Cameroon, Sudan, South Sudan, Yemen, Ukraine, Israel/Palestine, Thailand, Afghanistan, the Philippines, the Central African Republic, Myanmar, and Syria. Since the declaration of COVID-19 as a pandemic, the world has witnessed the pursuance of 14 ceasefires.

Can the coronavirus pandemic rouse peace and solidarity? Or will it further exacerbate violence as armed actors mobilise strategies that are assisted by a preoccupied world? Responding to these global concerns, the UN Secretary General urged for a global ceasefire stating that вЂњthe only war we should be waging is the war against COVID-19вЂќ. There are very valid concerns that armed actors may be opportunistic in turning the current conditions to their advantage. With COVID-19 demanding unprecedented global attention, international security concerns have receded from the international agenda.

World in conflict skirmish