The UN Security Council on Wednesday, July 1, unanimously adopted a resolution calling for an end to armed conflicts to facilitate the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic, diplomats said.
The resolution drafted by France and Tunisia was adopted after more than three months of negotiations. It calls for an “immediate cessation of hostilities in all situations” on the Security Council’s agenda.
This is the first Security Council statement on a new coronavirus pandemic and its first real action since the COVID-19 outbreak began.
The Tunisian ambassador to the UN, Kaiss Kabtani, called the resolution a historic achievement, but experts questioned the impact of the document and said that the delay in adopting it had undermined confidence in the Security Council.
The resolution aims to support the call made by UN Secretary-General António Guterres for a global ceasefire in March.
The resolution “calls on all parties to the armed conflict to immediately begin a long-term humanitarian break of at least 90 consecutive days in order to enable the safe, smooth and sustainable delivery of humanitarian aid”.
This call does not apply to the fight against jihadist rebel groups.
The new text of the resolution does not mention the World Health Organization (WHO), which has been criticized by the United States for managing the COVID-19 crisis. As early as May, Washington opposed any mention of the WHO in such a resolution.
The failure of the Security Council to adopt a resolution on the new coronavirus for more than three months has been widely criticized, and some Member States have stated that they are ashamed of the Security Council’s inaction.
The United States and China, which are the countries with the largest financial contributions to the UN, had threatened to veto this resolution during the negotiations.
Indonesia, a non-permanent member of the Security Council, helped reach a compromise by adding to the preamble a reference to the General Assembly’s commitment to support the WHO.
This seemed acceptable both to China, which wanted to emphasize the importance of the WHO, and to the United States, which has withdrawn from the WHO, expressing dissatisfaction with its management of the pandemic.
–
