COVID-19 alters dynamics in peacekeeping, prompts changes

One of the many areas that COVID-19 has affected throughout the world is peacekeeping missions. Fiji has joined the United Nations Member States in recognising the United Nations Action for Peace, and supporting the call made by the United Nations Secretary General (UNSG) António Guterres for a “global ceasefire,” and for the world to collectively focus its efforts to containing the COVID-19 pandemic.

COVID-19 not only affects civilians, but also men and women in uniform on the frontlines to keep the peace. Fiji has a significant contribution to peacekeeping in a number of prominent hotspots patrolled by UN personnel. COVID-19 has changed the dynamics in many parts of the world and the trouble spots are not immune to the killer virus. That means the lives of the peacekeepers and people they protect face risks that must be taken seriously.

Fiji’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Ambassador Satyendra Prasad, has informed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC ) that “peace operations will need to be repurposed; retooled so that peacekeepers can both keep missions safe while maintaining services and protecting populations caught in conflict between warring faction and parties”. He was speaking at the UNSC virtual debate on, “Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflicts” between warring factions and parties. He said the UNSC needed to take firmer and urgent action to arrest this alarming development which can only lead to tragic consequences.

Ambassador Prasad highlighted the progress that Fiji was making in bringing COVID-19 preparedness into the training and deployment of Fijian peacekeepers. The UNSG’s statement recognises the huge challenge that faces the world and sympathises with the peacekeepers for the risks they face and having to be trained to cope with COVID-19.

It says the COVID-19 pandemic is “causing enormous human suffering and additional stress to health systems, economies and communities. Those that are already weakened by years of armed conflict are particularly vulnerable. COVID-19 is not only spreading sickness and death; it is pushing people into poverty and hunger. In some cases, it is reversing decades of development progress.”

It adds that “civil society support and political will of member states and the security council are needed to implement the various United Nations Security Council resolutions and international programmes aimed at protecting civilians in armed conflict”.

A ceasefire will save civilian lives and those of peacekeepers caught in the crossfire between rival groups. The United Nations Secretary-General’s report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict of 2019, highlighted that civilians continued to suffer the most in armed conflict. The report highlighted that last year, “more than 20,000 civilians were killed or injured as a result of attacks in conflicts in just 10 countries around the world.”

From Fiji’s perspective a ceasefire will give our peacekeepers some relief and allow them to focus on keeping them and the civilians safe from COVID-19.