Future implications of the impact of COVID-19 on governance and public service

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What will governance and public service be like post COVID-19? We will not and should not revert to “business as usual” after this crisis. We should draw on the maxim from the United Nations (UN) 2030 agenda – the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – to “leave no one behind” in achieving a more sustainable, equitable, inclusive and secure/peaceful future. We should start a dialogue about the current and future implications of COVID-19 on governance and…

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Not immune: Children in conflict

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The goal of this report is to shine a spotlight on the important issue of immunising children affected by conflict and to ensure vaccine investments, policies and actions address the needs of these children. The report draws on evidence from published literature; and on the insights of vaccination experts who work on the ground with Save the Children to deliver vaccinations to children in conflict zones.   Download

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Women Peace and Human Security: A Guidance Note on Parliamentary Engagement During and Post-Covid-19

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National parliaments have a critical responsibility for overseeing and providing accountability for their countries’ action on COVID-19. All the while, they remain a locus of accountability for their countries’ commitments on women, peace and security (WPS). The guidance note looks at how parliaments can promote WPS-aligned pandemic response and recovery and, in the long term, exercise stewardship over a collective vision for inclusive human security. It identifies ways in which development partners can support parliaments…

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Aftershock: Abuse, exploitation & human trafficking in the wake of COVID-19

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This week, 20 years ago, the global community adopted the world’s first international law on trafficking in persons. Its adoption followed damning cases of peacekeeper and humanitarian involvement in trafficking rings during the Balkans wars of the 1990s. Today, the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons is almost universally ratified, symbolic of our collective will to eradicate the sale and exploitation of human beings. Despite 20 years of progress, the devastating social…

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Populations at risk: Implications of COVID-19 for hunger, migration and displacement

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This joint study by the World Food Programme and the International Organization for Migration explores the impacts of COVID-19 and related containment measures on migrant workers, remittance-dependent households and the forcibly displaced. It assesses the implications of the pandemic for people’s mobility, food security and other livelihood outcomes in major migration and hunger hotspots around the world. There are important linkages between food security and mobility. Food insecurity, especially when combined with conflict, can be…

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Impacts of COVID-19 on the Private Sector in Fragile and Conflict-Affected Situations

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The COVID-19 pandemic is having a significant negative impact on the private sector in developing economies, and businesses and individuals in fragile and conflict-affected situations are among the most severely affected. The pandemic has evolved rapidly from a health emergency to a global economic crisis, spreading through the real sector and posing growing risks to financial systems. Notable sector-level impacts include supply- and demand-based shocks to infrastructure and private healthcare; disruptions to imports, exports, and…

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Untying the nexus ‘knot’ in South Sudan

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This blog highlights the benefits of strengthening coordination between humanitarian, peacebuilding and development actors implementing aid responses in South Sudan, particularly in times of humanitarian crisis such as the COVID-19 pandemic. The triple nexus is getting a lot of attention, both in global capitals, such as here in Bern, where I am based, as well as in countries where it is being operationalized. Here at swisspeace, we have been looking at factors that support or…

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FAO-WFP early warning analysis of acute food insecurity hotspots

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As acute food insecurity levels appear to be reaching new highs globally, also as a result of the socio-economic fallout of measures imposed to contain the spread of COVID-19, this joint FAO-WFP report aims to raise an early warning on 20 countries and situations – called hotspots – that, starting from already significant levels of acute food insecurity in early 2020, are facing the risk of a further rapid deterioration over the next months. Through…

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RVI researchers organize public health messaging in South Sudan

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In April 2020, when COVID-19 reached South Sudan, many of RVI’s South Sudanese researchers decided to return to their hometowns to avoid what they believed would be a large outbreak in the country’s capital, Juba. Following discussions with friends and family, the researchers proposed that RVI work with them to conduct a programme of messaging and awareness-raising on COVID-19.1 These activities would draw on the strong network of chiefs established during the five years of RVI’s…

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The cessation of hostilities during the COVID-19 pandemic

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During events to commemorate 75 years since the formation of the United Nations (UN), Secretary-General António Guterres repeated his earlier call to world leaders to achieve a global ceasefire. In this call, the UNSG correctly stated that it is “time for a stepped-up push for peace to achieve a global ceasefire”, because we are all confronted by “one common enemy: COVID-19”. Indeed, in a year that is so significant in many ways, there has never…

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