Qatar says international community must not overlook conflict resolution amid Covid-19 fight

Qatar affirmed that the international community should not only focus on current fight against the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic and overlook efforts to resolve existing conflicts in the regions of the world.

The State of Qatar said that strong global co-operation is necessary and that work must be done together to confront the Covid-19 pandemic, but nonetheless, common and effective solutions must be found to the current crises and tensions in the world in order to stop hostilities and facilitate greater access to humanitarian relief.

The coronavirus epidemic should not be allowed to create incentives to escalate violence, nor should conflict resolution efforts be delayed or postponed.

This came in Qatar’s statement delivered by HE Permanent Representative of the State of Qatar to the United Nations ambassador Sheikha Alya Ahmed bin Saif al-Thani at the virtual high-level meeting of the United Nations Security Council on “pandemics and security”. Her Excellency said that this discussion comes at the right time and as Covid-19 “affects the world in a way we have not seen before, and affects the three main pillars of the United Nations, namely “peace, security, development and human rights.”

The ambassador also expressed concern about the impact of Covid-19 on the most vulnerable groups, including women and children, and on the millions of displaced people in conflict areas and refugee camps around the world, where fresh water is scarce, sanitation is unavailable, malnutrition is widespread, and healthcare infrastructure is affected by ongoing war and violence.

She also affirmed Qatar’s support to the call for a global ceasefire made by Secretary-General of the United Nations Antonio Guterres last March, and his call to stand together in the face of the global threat posed by the Covid-19 pandemic.

She noted that at a time when the world is celebrating the seventy-fifth anniversary of the establishment of the United Nations, Covid-19 sounded the alarm in order to find effective multilateral co-operation.

“There should be no doubt that it is only through solidarity and international co-operation we can overcome this threat that affects us all, and enable the most vulnerable groups to confront and recover and to rebuild better,” she said.

She expressed Qatar’s pride in intensifying its support for humanitarian relief efforts, as it made just two days ago, a new pledge to donate $100mn in humanitarian aid to Syria, in addition to a contribution of $10mn to the World Health Organisation, and a contribution of $10mn to the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunisation.

Concluding the statement, Her Excellency stressed that with the assumption of Qatar to chair the Donor Support Group for the Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the impact of this pandemic on the current humanitarian crises and its immediate consequences on vulnerable populations in conflict-affected environments will remain strongly present.