The Covid – 19 crisis has not only crippled peace keeping activities but also the basic unit of peace which is personal sanity and peace of mind. The UN secretary general while addressing the Security Council stated that; “all of this means that our commitment to sustaining peace is more urgent than ever”. The links to peace keeping in this pandemic need to be stronger than ever.
The integration of peace keeping actions in Covid -19 recovery strategies is crucial, contrary to what was witnessed at the onset of the pandemic where all the resources were diverted to fighting the disease. Now that states are wiser and the fact that the impacts of the pandemic are predicted to be here for a long time it is important for such a consideration.
Covid – 19 has intensified inequalities among marginalized communities and countries around the world creating the need for increased support for systems especially health and economic systems for sustenance. There’s need for stakeholder participation in peace building in this time of crisis to come up with informed options.
Some of the pandemic strategies have been witnessed to be conflict – inducing. This time has seen increase in police brutality and violence against civilian population as they try to enforce lockdowns and curfews; this has been disrespect to human rights and freedoms. Governments have in pretext of responding to Covid -19 oppressed oppositions, journalists and bloggers.
“The underlying reason or cause for not achieving the MDGs was the lack of peace, we realized that unless you have peace, you cannot either achieve development or even if you achieve it, you cannot sustain those gains.” Habib Mayar, deputy sec general of the g7+
How will we fight Covid – 19 without peace?
By
Wairimu Ngandu